The Third Age
by Elves are awesome
Summary: Revised version of my first fic. Based on the game The Third Age, war is once again terrorising the people of Middle Earth, following the fellowship into war, a group of companions must fight to try and save Middle Earth. Pairings revealed in story. Now Complete.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note: So this is the chapter 1 rewrite, I will finish writing chaprter 9 after I have rewritten chapter 2 as well.**

**Disclaimer: I own Nothing**

**Chapter 1 The council of Elrond.**

Idrial rode eagerly towards Rivendell, he often visited the valley to see her friends and her uncle. She could never forget the first time she set foot in Imladris, after she and her brother had taken Aragorn and his mother.

As she entered the borders she rode faster, eager to get to the elven city before nightfall. Her grandmother had sent her since when the message had arrived of Elrond summoning a council Idrial had actually been in Lothlorien for once.

She approached the valley and was greeted by her cousins, Elladan and Elrohir.

"Idrial it is nice to see you again." Elladan and Elrohir greeted.

"It is good to be back." Idrial replied.

"This time you cannot go n any hunting trips and come back half- alive." They joked.

"If you are referring to the incident last summer, that was one of our better trips." Idrial replied. When she stayed in Rivendell she often went hunting with her friends, Aragorn and Legols, they had a tendency to return wounded when they went hunting though.

"You broke your arm and had a cut all the way don the side of your face, Legolas broke three ribs and almost bled to death and Aragorn could not leave the healing ward for two months!" Elladan exclaimed.

"Like I said, one of the better trips." Idrial joked.

"Our grandparents did not agree!" Elrohir complained.

"They would not." Idrial joked, remembering the loos on their faces when they saw her arm in a sling and the left side of her face in bandages.

"Our father wishes to speak with you, he is in his study." Elladan stated. Idrial nodded and ran of to the study.

She walked in and saw her uncle reading through some papers.

He stood up and was facing her.

"Welcome back Idrial, I assume you are here for the council." Elrond said. Idrial nodded and Elrond sighed.

"I had hoped your brother would be here, for I fear there will be many arguments in this council, and the last thing I need is for you to lose your temper." Elrond said quietly. Causing Idrial to sigh, everyone preferred Aranel to her when it came to political issues because he was more patient even though she knew more of the enemy from all the times she had gone hunting.

"Galadriel knows what the council is about which is why she sent me, Aranel rarely leaves Lothlorien so would not be helpful with the topic of the council." Idrial replied, trying to remain calm.

"The council is tomorrow, you are staying in your usual room." Elrond stated.

Idrial left and went to find Aragorn who was stood by his mother's grave he didn't hear her coming so she walked behind him unnoticed.

"You wish she was still here." Idrial said quietly. Aragorn glanced over his shoulder and saw Idrial there.

"I wish she could tell me what I should do." Aragorn replied.

"She would want you to happy I think she would tell you to become king so you could marry Arwen." Idrial said softly.

"Arwen gave up her immortality for me, when she can leave these lands." Aragorn said gloomily.

"Arwen loves you Aragorn it is a small sacrifice to her if it means that she could be with you." Idrial replied.

"Why do you stay?" Aragorn asked.

"I will not leave, Middle Earth is home to me and I definitely cannot leave while there are thousands of orcs to kill." Idrial answered.

"Even when your parents died here." Aragorn replied.

"I am too used to death for it to make me want to leave." Idrial said quietly.

"What were your parents like?" Aragorn asked.

"I do not remember much about them, I remember what they look like from drawings in Lothlorien, my mother was a lot like Galadriel, in both personality and appearance, I cannot remember much about my father." Idrial answered.

"How do you cope with not knowing them?" Aragorn asked.

"I realised that they died trying to protect me and Aranel, that says a lot about a person. Your father died protecting your mother, you and the entire camp, he sent me and Aranel to Rivendell with you and your mother because he knew that we would be sent to our original home when Elrond found out that we were alive." Idrial answered.

"He was a good person then." Aragorn replied.

"He would be proud of you." Idrial said quietly.

"Thank you." Aragorn replied. Idrial smiled, She had been with Arathorns camp when they were attacked, she remembered Arathorn sending her and Aranel to Rivendell, Arathorn and Gilraen had treated her and Aranel as if they were there own, and she had watched them die, just like when her parents died.

Idrial and Aragorn were walking back to the hall of fire when Legolas walked over to them.

"Mae govannen Idrial, I see you recovered from the last hunting trip then." Legolas teased.

"Need I remind you I was the least wounded out of the three of us last time." Idrial replied.

"True but you were also the one who said that we should attack the orcs." Legolas muttered.

"We could have, if you were better with a sword." Idrial joked.

Legolas went to swat her but she dodged just in time.

"You should know better than to hit a lady." Aragorn joked, earning him a swat on the back of the head from Idrial.

"You know how much I hate my title." Idrial complained.

"We know." Aragorn and Legolas chimed.

"Well I have been travelling for the last two weeks, so if you do't mind I might get some rest." Idrial said whilst yawning. She walked back to her room while Legolas and Aragorn went into the hall of fire where Bilbo was reciting some of his poems.

The next morning was the council. Idrial walked in with her hood pulled up, most of the people at the council thought that she was another ranger until she removed her hood to reveal he golden hair and pointed ears. She sat beside Aragorn the last person to walk in was Frodo after he sat down the council began.

"Strangers from distant lands, friends of old you have been summoned here for a mater of great importance is to be discussed." Elrond said.

"I beg your pardon Lord Elrond but why is a woman here, what will she know that could be useful." Boromir cut in. Idrial stood up at the moment, a flare of anger went through her.

"Watch your tongue Gondorian, I have every right to be as you do." Idrial snapped.

"Idrial havo dad." Elrond said sternly. Idrial sat back down but her anger was visible in her ice blue eyes.

"Bring forth the ring Frodo." Elrond continued. Frodo stepped forward and place his ring on a pedestal.

"In a dream I saw the eastern sky grow dark but apale light in the west remained, give the ring to Gondor." Boromir said.

Idrial jumped to her feet.

"The ring would destroy Gondor, as it would any realm except Mordor, to give the ring to Gondor would ensure the deaths of us all." Idrial argued.

"Idrial." Aragorn warned, she retook her seat and muttered to herself in elvish, Aragorn and Legolas smirked at her comment but Elrond looked rather annoyed.

"Idrial is right, you cannot wield it none of us can." Aragorn said calmly.

"And what would a ranger know of this matter." Boromir replied. At this Legolas jumped to his feet.

"That is no mere ranger that is Aragorn, son of Arathorn you owe him your allegiance." Legolas said, a bitter bite in his voice.

"This is Isildur's heir." Boromir said, disgust evident in his voice.

"And heir to the throne of Gondor." Legolas argued.

"Havo dad Legolas." Aragorn said sternly.

Legolas took his seat still irritated by Boromir.

"None of us can wield the ring, there is only one course of action left to us, the ring must be destroyed, in the fires of which it was made, in mount doom in Mordor one of you must do this." Elrond said. His words seem to linger in the air for a few moments.

"It is a gift to those of Mordor, give the ring to Gondor." Boromir persisted.

"Have you heard nothing Lord Elrond has said! The ring must be destroyed." Legolas exclaimed.

"And I suppose you think you're the one to do it!" Gimli yelled.

Chaos broke out, Legolas had to stop his guards from hitting the dwarves as the two races yelled at each other.

In the midst of all the commotion Frodo stood up.

"I will take it." He tried to yell above the voices of the elves and dwarves.

"I will take the ring to Mordor, though I do not know the way." Frodo continued now the noise died down.

"I will help you bear this burden Frodo Baggins as long as it is yours to bear." Gandalf said as he stood beside the young hobbit.

"If by life I can protect you I will. You have my sword." Aragorn declared as he walked to stand with Frodo and Gandalf.

"And my bow." Legolas stated as he went to join them.

"And my Axe!" Gimli exclaimed as he stood with them.

"You bear the fates of us all little one it is only fitting that I aid you." Boromir said as he went to stand with Frodo.

"Oi! Mister Frodo ain't going anywhere without me." Sam yelled as he ran into the council.

"Or us!" Merry and Pippin continued as they ran into the council.

"Very well then you hall be the fellowship of the ring." Elrond declared.

**Elvish Translations:**

**Havo dad- sit down**

**A/N: Yeah this is the new chapter and that's really all I have to say.**

**Please Review No flames though.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's note: So I will be working on chapter 9 now but I have no idea when I will upload it since I am trying to write a new light in the darkness chapter as well and it is back to school soon :-(.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

The council was dismissed soon after and everyone dispersed to various places in Rivendell.

"I am shocked at you." Legolas said.

"Why?" Idrial asked.

"I would have thought that you would have jumped at the chance to destroy Sauron, why didn't you?" Legolas replied.

"I can go and fight more orcs than if I went to Mordor." Idrial answered.

"Do you really expect me to believe that for one second?" Legolas asked.

"I cannot tell you the real reason, only my grandparents and uncle are allowed to know." Idrial answered.

"I understand, you could have said that in the first place." Legolas replied.

"Sorry I just don't want to let them down." Idrial said quietly.

"I understand." Legolas replied.

"Thank you." Idrial said quietly.

The fellowship were staying in Rivendell for a few months ad Idrial decided t ry and teach the hobbits hw to use their swords, Frodo and Sam sat away but Idrial had the hard task of teaching Merry and Pippin. She struggled to teach them and to make matters worse Aragorn and Legolas were watching and laughing at her.

"Aragorn, Legolas help me here." Idrial said slightly stressed Aragorn went to help her but Legolas stayed where he was.

"I am not good enough with a sword to teach them." Legolas teased, using her own words against her. Idrial glared at him but forced herself to smile as she continued to attempt to teach the hobbits.

After the hobbits tired out Idrial, Aragorn and Legolas sat together in one of the forests. The three of them were close were friends.

"Who knew hobbits were that much work, have fun travelling with four of them." Idrial joked.

"You were intelligent in not joining us." Aragorn replied.

"No hunting trips for a while then." Idrial said.

"No we are not allowed to get injured before the fellowship depart." Aragorn replied.

"That will be a challenge for you two." Idrial joked.

"You are lucky you can go hunting, while we sit here with nothing to do." Legolas replied.

"No I cannot I am under strict orders to return home unscathed." Idrial said while sighing.

"Why don't you leave then?" Aragorn asked.

"Some one is eager to get rid of me." Idrial joked. "The sooner I leave here the sooner I will be stuck in Lorien unless I say that I will sail. You two are lucky, you can travel across Middle Earth while I am stuck in Lothlorien." Idrial complained.

The three of them left as dusk was approaching and the fellowship prepared to leave the next day.

The fellowship left at dawn despite the hobbits begging to leave later.

"Mordor Gandalf is left or right?" Frodo asked.

"Left." Gandalf replied.

And with that they set off.

Idrial left at dawn the next day she had been wandering through Eregion for several hours when she quickly hid in a bush. The Nazgul were here, if she was discovered she would be killed she had to stay hidden. A Gondorian rode towards the Nazgul then there was a clash of swords and the Gondorian fell to the ground.

**A/N: That's all the rewriting done. Short I know, this chapter was pretty hard since I had to start from scratch.**

**Please Review No flames though.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's note: Great news, my knee is better so I can go back to cricket this week! I also have a beta reader now, so a huge thank you to DancingChestnut for all your help that is super useful.**

**Elvish will be in italics for this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: Not mine.**

**Chapter 3: Rescue**

Idrial's P.O.V

I took a deep breath before jumping out of the bushes and charging towards the Nazgul, I blocked the Nazgul's blade from hurting the Gondorian more. I quickly turned, knocking the Nazgul back, I raised my sword in defence and muttered an old elvish spell.

Suddenly a large torrent of water came and crashed into the Nazgul causing them to flee, I had a chance to escape but not long, this Gondorian was clearly important if they left him alive..

I knelt down beside him and placed and hand over his wound.

"What grace is given to me let it pass to him, let him be spared." I said quietly before standing up.

(The rest of this chapter is not in anyone's specific p.o.v)

The Gondorian looked up at the she-elf who had just saved his life, she wore light travelling armour and had a deadly looking sword strapped to her waist. Her eyes were a pale yet soft blue and her honey blonde hair was in one long braid.

She offered him a hand up, he was awestruck, why would an elf worry about protecting him, let alone a she-elf.

"Thank you lady, you saved my life." The Gondorian said.

"There is no time for thanks, I need to take you to an outpost to heal your wounds properly." She replied before walking ahead.

She expected him to follow which was exactly what he did.

They had been walking for about an hour and Idrial could sense the Gondorian was becoming agitated, yet she could not reveal much to him yet, he had to earn her trust, something that few people managed.

Finally he gave into his frustration.

"I am looking for Boromir of Gondor, have you seen him?" The Gondorian questioned.

"No but I do see orcs ahead." She answered before raising her blade

The Gondorian warrior followed suit and they charged towards the orcs.

The orcs were easily defeated, though the Gondorian noticed Idrial fighting mercilessly even though there was only 3 orcs, yet he didn't bother asking her about it.

Idrial was putting her weapons away when the Gondorian walked over to her.

"May I at least know your name?" He practically demanded.

"Very well, I am Idrial of Lothlorien." She replied.

"I am Berethor of Gondor." He said. He was slightly less irritated now, at least he knew one thing about the elf.

They walked for another two hours before they reached the outpost, a healer who lived there healed Berethor's wound as much as possible while Idrial found some herbs to take with her. They stopped at the outpost for the night, barricading the doors so the orcs would not be able to attack without causing Idrial to wake up. She sat against the wall and shut her eyes, which made Berethor confused.

"Is she meditating?" He asked the healer

"No, Idrial is asleep." The healer answered.

"But how, surely it is uncomfortable." Berethor said, slightly confused.

"Elves are able to fall asleep almost anywhere, Idrial more so than others, she is used to sleeping in the trees when she is away hunting so the orcs cannot attack, even in sleep elven senses are powerful." The healer answered.

They left the outpost at dawn, they decided to travel together as Idrial needed to return to Lorien while Berethor needed to find Boromir.

In the distance Idrial could hear crows, but as she sensed them coming closer she realised te problem.

"Hide." She commanded before quickly diving behind a boulder. Berethor did what she said and appeared from behind a rock after the Crebain had left.

"What was that?" He asked.

"Crebain, the white wizard has betrayed us." She replied gloomily

In the distance Idrial could hear people screaming, instinctively she drew her sword and ran towards the screams, Berethor followed unsure of what she was planning.

When they were near Idrial saw that it was a group of elves travelling towards Rivendell before going to the Grey Havens and sailing.

Without thinking she charged at the orcs that were attacking the elves, Berethor followed also attacking the orcs. Idrial fought like she was possessed, she slashed at any orc that came near her. They managed to save the elves however one of them was badly wounded. Idrial sat by the wounded elf for hours trying to heal her.

Finally Idrial stood up and walked over to the other elves. _'This is beyond my skill to heal."_ She said softly.

"_What should we do?" _One of the elves asked.

"_Send your fastest rider to Rivendell with her and take her to my uncle." _Idrial answered while untying a horse.

"_Yes Lady Idrial." _An elf answered while mounting the horse.

The elf rode away and Berethor and Idrial continued.

They continued travelling until nightfall before setting up camp, they lit a fire and Berethor fell asleep. Idrial kept watch from a nearby tree.

The next morning they set off for Caradhras, they were near to the pass when they saw a wounded ranger. They crouched behind a rock when they saw two wargs moving to attack the ranger.

"We must help him." Berethor said quietly.

"Wait for the wargs to approach." Idrial said, her voice barely above a whisper.

"They'll kill him." Berethor argued. Idrial just glared at him.

As the wargs got closer Berethor decided to charge forwards.

Suddenly the ranger jumped up and struck at the wargs, killing them instantly.

"You live." Berethor exclaimed.

"No thanks to you." The ranger retorted.

"Perhaps we should finish off the rest of the pack first." Idrial said sternly as two wargs charged at her.

She quickly dodged the wargs and struck at them, Elegost shot the wargs while Berethor attacked another warg.

After the battle Berethor walked over to Elegost who was sat on a rock cleaning his bow.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Berethor yelled.

"I would watch your tongue Gondorian." The ranger said harshly.

"I cannot trust you ranger." Berethor grumbled.

Suddenly Idrial cut in.

"I vouch for him in the name of the Lady Galadriel." Idrial argued.

"You rangers of the north are full of riddles." Berethor grumbled.

"And who are you to speak in the name of an elven ruler?" Berethor questioned. But Idrial just walked ahead/.

**A/N: Sorry for the long wait, I have been very busy, my mum is making me do back to school shopping now while everything is on sale instead of September when it will be more expensive, and did you like the tension there, just to prevent any confusion Idrial has been friends with Elegost for years.**

**Please review, favourite and follow this story.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's note: sorry for the wait I struggled to write this chapter, I should make it easier for myself and not have as much suspense so it is easier to write, but that would be boring for you so oh well.**

**Elvish will be in Italics for this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I think we have established this by now but just a reminder I own nothing.**

**Chapter 4: Strangers.**

"And who are you to speak in the name of an elven ruler?" Berethor questioned but Idrial us walked over to where Elegost sat.

"_How do I know I can trust him?" _Elegost asked quietly.

"_Because I was assigned guardianship over him, I wouldn't have been if it was not important." _Idrial muttered.

"_What brings a Gondorian to Eregion, they do not are about this part of the world." Elegost said, slightly irritated._

"_I cannot tell you, sorry, I am under strict orders from my grandmother." Idrial replied._

"_Since when did you follow orders?" _Elegost joked.

"_It does not matter, although please could you travel with us, we will need someone who is actually good at archery." _Idrial said quietly.

"_Yes I will come although I do need to find someone." _Elegost answered.

"_Who?"_ Idrial asked.

"_My friend Hadhod, a dwarf from Erebor." _Elegost answered.

"_I will try and help, you know that I do not have a problem with the dwarves." _Idrial replied.

Berethor watched the two of them, he knew they were talking about something but the two spoke in a language he didn't understand.

They set up camp for the night, and once again Idrial kept watch. It was almost dawn when Idrial spotted some orcs heading towards them.

"Quickly wake up!" She said just quiet enough so the orcs couldn't hear. They jumped up and grabbed their weapons.

Elegost stood slightly further back with his bow while Idrial and Berethor stood waiting with their swords raised.

The orcs came into view and one was immediately shot dead by Elegost, Idrial and Berethor charged forward and fiercely struck at the orcs.

When the brief skirmish had ended they headed towards a healing altar in the mountains, Elegost had sustained some serious wounds before encountering Berethor and Idrial.

When they arrived Idrial was disgusted to see orcs there. She quickly killed them in her anger, and Elegost stabbed one of the orcs to make sure that it was definitely dead.

"You want to make sure they are good and dead, some are harder to kill." Elegost said gloomily.

"Even these sacred places are no longer safe." Idrial muttered.

They continued to travel for a while before stopping to rest.

"Idrial get some rest, I will take watch." Elegost told her. It was obvious that she needed to rest even with her elven endurance.

"I can manage." She argued.

"Idrial just get some rest, you are no help if you are falling asleep." Elegost said sternly. Idrial sighed and quickly fell asleep though, she knew that there was no point in arguing.

When they awoke they immediately set off again. Idrial scouted ahead leaving Elegost and Berethor alone. There was a tense silence in the air as the two sat in silence. When she returned they jumped up quickly.

"I didn't see any orcs but we need to be watchful." Idrial warned

"Of course." Elegost replied.

They reached the fellowship's camp and stopped there for the night. Much to Berethor's annoyance Idrial made sure that they stopped each night which meant he was no closer to finding Boromir. Idrial had been warned by Galadriel not to catch up to the fellowship and to not reveal anything to soon. They were better off with him not knowing.

They lit a fire and sat around it.

"Where did you get your wounds?" Berethor asked.

"I was fighting in the mountains, alongside a friend, there was a storm at the time, and my friend was dragged away by a landslide, and one of the orcs stole a map that led to a long lost kingdom." Elegost replied.

"Moria." Idrial said..

"Yes, I know not of what happened to my friend but I must find him." Elegost replied.

"We will aid you." Idrial answered.

**A/N: I know this is short but it was incredibly hard to write, also until further notice my chapters will not be bteaed because I have a problem with my laptop where the screen is really dark so it is hard to see what I am writing so it is hard t make corrections, I can onl write when it is sunny so I can see my screen sort of clearly which is why I am so slow on updates. Oh and this my seem really dumb but are orcs immortal because they were ade b Morgoth in mockery of th elves.**

**Please review.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's note: Hi so I have found some inspiration for this story so I (hopefully) will update soon, especially since I have replayed th game up until Helm's Deep level because after that I am not following the game plot. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Chapter 5: Dwarven ally**

They searched for Elegost's friend for a dat without any signs of finding him. The day after Elegost noticed some tracks on the ground.

"Fresh tracks, the dwarf I close." Elegost muttered.

"He is heavy for one so small." Idrial joked.

"I wouldn'tt say that around him." Elegost replied.

"Quiet. Both of you, I think I hear something." Berethor snapped.

Elegost walked over but Idrial realised what the noise was.

"Looks like we have found a troll." Idrial sid under her breath.

They all grabbed their weapons and slowly approached the troll.

"Well ranger it's about time." A dwarf yelled while trying to fend off the troll.

They charge towards the troll and attacked.

It was certainly a difficult foe, they had to try an attack it without being crushed or having their heads knocked frm their shoulders. Elegost hung back from the others with his bow and shot the troll. Idrial dived to avoid a particularly lethal blow to the head before running to where Elegost stood.

She threw a knife before going to attack the troll in melee. The dwarf struggled to dodge the troll's attacks luckily Berethor and Idria attacked the troll before it could try and hurt the dwarf.

After about 3 hours they bested the troll however not without sustaining some wounds Idrial healed the others out of everyoneshe had the mot energy left, everyone else was exhausted

"Well I don't want t face a troll again." Elegost joked.

"At least we are all alive." Berethor said.

"So master dwarf, how did you encounter the troll." Idrial asked, after she finished healing everyone.

"I do not see how it would bother an elf." The dwarf retorted making Elegost sigh.

"I am not, starting an argument, unlike most of my race I do not hate the dwarves." Idrial answered calmly.

The dwarf didn't respond though.

"Idrial, Berethor this is Hadhod a dwarf of Fundin's clan." Elegost said trying to relieve the tension.

"Elegost anything you wish to explain." Hadhod said.

"No why?" Elegost stammered.

"So why was my map from Elrond in an orcs possession." Hadhod grumbled.

"After the landslide, I was wounded and the orc stole the map." Elegost replied.

"Well are we going to follow the map and go to Moria?" Hadhod asked.

"Of course." Elegost answered.

"Do you mind if we accompany you, I need to return to Lorien, I cannot take the passage south because of Saruman and Caradhras is out of the question." Idrial said.

"Yes we will likely need a healer." Elegost replied.

They stopped to rest for the night after all everyone was fatigued from the fight. The next morning they headed to Moria . They arrived late in the day to find the entrance completely collapsed.

"Well now how do we get in!" Hadhod complained.

"There must be another way." Idrial muttered.

Unbeknownst to them, the watcher in the water was still alive they were only made aware of it's prescence after it began to attack them.

Elegost shot at it, Idrial threw her throwing knives, Hadhod attacked with his axe and Berethor attacked with his sword.

The watcher lashed out with it's tentacles, removing the debris from the door. Berethor, Idrial, Elegost and Hadhod quickly ran inside while they had the chance. They mad it inside the mines just before the door re-collapsed.

Once they were safely inside Hadhod saw the skeletons of the dwarves. He just stood there staring at his fallen kin.

Idrial knelt down beside one of the skeletons.

"This battle took place centuries ago, the bones reduced to dust." She said quietly.

Elegost walked over to Hadhod.

"Come my friend we must go." Elegost said.

They walked on now all they wanted to was to escape.

"It's a four day journey to the other side" Hadhod stated.

"Let's hope we do not encounter goblins." Berethor replied.

Everyone kept their weapons ready and raised, the risk of being attacked was too great.

**Author's note: This is a lot shorter than I wanted it to be but I was struggling with this chapter the next chapter will be at least 1000 words.**

**Please review but no flames.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's note: Two chapters in one day, wow. I just want to say thank you to Narsilia Lyanna Elendil, who has really helped my confidence.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Chapter 6: Moria**

They walked for several hours before coming to crossroads at first they took the path to the left and found themselves near a large pit.

Suddenly a skeleton came crashing down and almost hit Elegost. They were distracted by a voice bellowing from above.

"Fool of a took! Throw yourself in next time and rid us of your stupidity!" The voice bellowed.

Suddenly there were several loud rubles from below and the ground seemed to shake.

"I think we have found more than we bargained for." Elegost yelled, with his bow ready.

A creature began to crawl up the wall.

"A Balrog of Morgoth!" Idrial called.

Just when they thought they had found an escape the balrog destroyed it.

When the commotion was over Idrial noticed a key attached to the skull that had fallen. She picked it up and looked at it.

"What do you say to this Hadhod?" Idrial asked while showing Hadhod the key.

"It looks to be a key to something important, a book of secrets most likely." Hadhod answered.

They went back the way they came this time taking the .far right tunnel. They found themselves in a large room there were goblins sat on an old throne.

Hadhod was enraged at this and hacked at the goblins mercilessly. Idrial noticed a large book on a pedestal.

"It shall be a dwarf that first opens the book of secrets." Hadhod grumbled. Idrial looked at Elegost who just shrugged.

They skimmed through the book and Idrial found information about a secret door.

"Andelu I ven, I can speak the words but I cannot find the door." Idrial said slightly confused.

"That requires cunning far beyond that of an elf, your people served to secure our doors but you were never the power behind our throne, then, now or ever." Hadhod said harshly.

Idrial rolled her eyes, Hadhod was starting to get on her nerves.

Elegost spotted an old axe in the corner and went to pick it up.

"What do you have there?" Hadhod asked.

"This." Elegost said showing Hadhod the axe.

"This is the last axe ever forged in Moria." Hadhod replied.

"Take it, in memory of your people." Elegost said.

"Ai in memory of them all." Hadhod replied before replacing his old axe with the new one.

Returning back to the crossroads they finally took the correct path leading them to the chamber of secrets.

"I believe we are here Hadhod, no more secrets." Idrial said.

"Moria has many more secrets which you will never discover she-elf." Hadhod retorted. Idrial had to bite her tongue to stop herself from arguing with him but if he didn't stop soon she knew she would lose her temper.

She stood in front of the only unblocked wall.

"Andelu I ven." She said and the hidden door opened.

They walked through and found themselves in the hall of records. There was a large gap in the wall which they walked through, they ran up some stairs and found themselves in a large hall that seemed endless.

Without thinking Hadhod rushed into a small room and saw the destroyed remains of Balin's tomb. He was at a loss for words.

"They failed then." Hadhod muttered to himself, overcome with grief. Idrial and Elegost noticed the bodies of goblins and a dead troll on the floor.

"The fellowship have been here." Idrial stated.

"How can you tell?" Berethor asked.

"I doubt that anyone else would willingly be here." Idrial answered.

Suddenly they felt the ground shake.

"Hadhod we need to go now!" Idrial yelled. They ran out of the tomb and back into the corridor, they continued to run until goblins approached them.

"Quickly, cut tem down!2 Berethor yelled.

"I wouldn't be too hasty their moving above us." Idrial called.

They were quickly surrounded but the ground shook again and the goblins retreated. They started running again and quickly reached the end of the corridor.

They ran down some stairs and could see the bridge of khazad-dum and Gandalf fighting the balrog. They ran to the wizard's side with their weapons ready. Berethor and Hadhod couldn't really attack the balrog so they stood back. Elegost shot the balrog with his bow and Idrial used her water magic to try and aid Gandalf. But Gandalf knew they could not aid him, none of them were strong enough of powerful enough.

"Your weapons are no more use here, you must flee." Gandalf yelled.

"We can fight!" Idrial argued.

"When I tell you to, you must flee." Gandalf persisted.

As the balrog was about to step forwards Gandalf turned to the others.

"Fly you fools!" He yelled.

They ran out of the mines that was the last they saw of Gandalf.

They stood outside the mines no one spoke for what felt like hours.

"We cannot linger here." Elegost said quietly.

"We will not reach Lothlorien tonight." Idrial replied,

"Then what do we do?" Berethor asked

"There is a small cave in the mountainside, we could shelter there tonight then go to Lothlorien tomorrow." Idrial suggested.

"You mean go to an elven realm." Hadhod grumbled.

"It is either that or be killed by orcs." Elegost retorted.

One by one they climbed into the small cave and rested for the night. Dawn came and everyone was still grieving for Gandalf. They set off early wit Idrial leading the way, they had been travelling all day when they reached the edge of the forest. As soon as they were beneath the trees Idrial's face lit up and she felt overjoyed to be under the trees again. Sunlight glistened off the leaves and illuminated the forest they were forced to sleep in the trees that night because they were too far away from any patrols. For the first night in a long time they felt safe and didn't have to worry about being found by orcs. Everyone was exhausted and quickly fell asleep.

**A/N: Lorien next yay, one thing I need to check are the leaves golden or green in winter because that confuses me, I will update soon hopefully tomorrow, maybe tonight since cricket training was cancelled because of the weather and we haven't got enough coaches to help out.**

**Please review, no flames though.**


	7. Chapter 7:Home is not where the heart is

**Author's note: Sorry for the slight delay I was actually quite busy on Saturday and was out with my friends on Sunday, and turns out my knee hasn't recovered and is still really painful so I have to go back to the doctors and I might have to do physiotherapy so I will probably update slower if I have to but I will let you know.**

**Elvish will be in **_**Italics**_

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Chapter 7:**

Idrial awoke to golden leaves above her, she looked to the other trees and saw that the others were still asleep. She effortlessly jumped out of the tree without making a sound so she didn't wake the others. She left to walk around the outskirts of the forest.

Elegost woke up an hour later and noticed that Idrial was gone but he did not worry, with al the times that he had travelled with her, he knew that she had a tendency to wander off. Berethor and Hadhod awoke shortly after and Idrial had not returned.

"So our elven companion has deserted us." Hadhod complained..

"She will be back." Elegost replied.

"How can you be so sure?" Hadhod questioned.

"I have been friends with Idrial for sixty years this is just her way to blow off some steam." Elegost replied , and Berethor coughed at this.

"You say you have known her for sixty years she barely looks as though she was twenty!" Berethor exclaimed.

"Elves are immortal and they do not age as much as us, if I remember rightly Idrial is about 2542 years old which is still rather young for elves." Elegost explained.

"If you have known her for sixty years how old does that make you?" Berethor asked.

"I am 73 since I am of the Dunedain I should live to be around 200 and I do not age as fast because the Dunedain are originally descended from a half elf who chose mortality." Elegost answered.

"So where is the elf?" Hadhod grumbled.

"If I know Idrial she should be back about now." Elegost replied, just as he said that Idrial jumped out of a nearby tree.

"We need to go." Idrial said simply before walking ahead.

"_Did you see something whilst you were away?" _ Elegost asked.

"_Orcs not too far from here I am hoping that a patrol will kill them but the patrols do not come this far, if the orcs are too close run ahead I will try and fend them off." _Idrial replied.

"_How do you plan to do that?" _Elegost questioned.

"_I am not sure; I am hoping it does not come to that."_ Idrial answered.

"_How many were there?" _Elegost asked.

"_Fifty at least, we should be nearing a patrol though so we will be able to warn them._" Idrial said quietly.

"_How can you tell?" _Elegost muttered.

Suddenly Orophin and his patrol landed in front of them.

"_That's how." _Idrial joked.

"_Welcome home Lady Idrial." _Orophin greeted.

"_How many times do I have to tell you stop calling me that!" _Idrial protested.

"_As you wish." _Orophin replied.

"_Elegost of he Dunedain welcome." _Orophin said.

"_Thank you Orophin."_ Elegost replied.

"_There were orcs not far behind us, there were at least fifty."_ Idrial said nervously.

"Thank you for informing me, my patrol will kill them, you know the way t Caras Galadhon, lead your companions there." Orophin replied. Idrial nodded before walking ahead with the others following.

It took them another two days to reach Caras Galadhon by the time they got there the fellowship had already left..

They slowly ascended the seemingly endless staircase to where Galadriel and Celeborn waited for them.

"Welcome home Idrial." Galadriel said softly as Idrial reached the top of the stairs.

"Elegost of the Dunedain welcome." Galadriel greeted.

"Berethor of Gondor, you have had a long road rest in Lothlorien and recover your strength." Galadriel said softly.

"Hadhod of Erebor, be at peace." Galadriel continued, sensing the dwarf's discomfort.

"Rest you have had a long road and hard fighting to get here." Celeborn said.

Idrial went to her talan while Elegost, Berethor and Hadhod were sleeping under a canopy on the forest floor.

As usual Idrial was awake early and at the training grounds practising when her brother walked over.

"Do you ever stop training?" Aranel joked.

"There is always room for improvement." Idrial retorted.

Aranel hugged her.

"You finally decided to come home then." Aranel teased.

"Not for long." Idrial replied.

"You never stay for long." Aranel said quietly.

"And I never will." Idrial replied.

""How about we spar, to see if you have improved in my absence." Idrial said happily.

"Alright then." Aranel replied.

They had been sparring for an hour and neither sibling were giving up.

Aranel raised his blade but Idrial blocked it with her, spun, knocked the blade out of his hand and knocked him to the ground. She offered him a hand up before speaking/

"You are getting better, but you should stick to using a bow." Idrial said breathlessly.

"Yes because he can actually wield a bow unlike you." Haldir joked as he walked over.

"Thank you Haldir." Aranel replied. Idrial rolled her eyes at the two.

"I am surprised you would side with one of your patrol and not a fellow patrol leader." Idrial retorted.

"Normally I would side with you but I lost at archery to your brother so I owe him this." Haldir replied.

"I need to speak with my companions excuse me." Idrial said before going to find them.

"I think we annoyed your sister." Haldir said.

"That dose not take much." Aranel joked.

**A/N: Sorry if it's short I struggled for ideas by the wa this is not a Elegost/Idrial fic just to clear things up because I know it might seem like it sometimes.**

**Please review no flames though**


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's note: Yes I have re-written this chapter, I made a bunch of mistakes and left out a few things. I have been to the doctors and I found that I have also damaged a ligament and I should be starting physiotherapy in the next few weeks oh and I will be rewriting the first two chapters as well.**

**Elvish will be in ita**_**lics.**_

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

**Chapter 8: Lothlorien**

Idrial had been called to see her grandparents, she ascended the staircase slowly and once she reached the top she stood nervously before them. It made no sense, Idrial had slain countless orcs in her lifetime, almost been killed several times and frighteningly outnumbered, but she was nervous to face two of her last remaining relatives.

"_Idrial, the elves are leaving Middle Earth leave now while you have the chance._" Celeborn said quietly.

"_I will not leave, this is my home."_ Idrial replied.

"_If you do not leave now you will just be killed by Sauron and his army." _Celeborn persisted.

"_Then I will be remembered for dying in battle instead of abandoning Middle Earth!" Idrial argued._

"_Your stubbornness will be the death of you!" Celeborn yelled._

"_I see, you try to force me to leave but not Aranel because you prefer him!" Idrial retorted._

"_There is a ship waiting for you, leave now instead of making a mistake you will regret for the rest of your life!" Celeborn yelled._

"_I would regret it if I left!" Idrial snapped._

"_You have to leave!" Celeborn bellowed._

"_I will not leave, ego mibo orch!" Idrial retorted before storming off._

Berethor, Elegost and Hadhod saw her storm off into the forest, Elegost heard the argument and knew exactly why she was so angry. Galadriel found her sat on the grass with her chin resting on her knees.

"I know that you will not leave Middle Earth, and I support your decision." Galadriel said softly.

"Thank you." Idrial said quietly.

"Do you know who you remind me of?" Galadriel replied.

"No, who?" Idrial asked.

"Your mother, she was as stubborn as you are, you are loyal to friends like her, and you fight for what you believe in like her, if she was here I know that she would be so proud of you." Galadriel said softly.

"I fight for them, and I fight so no one suffers like me and Aranel did. I will not give up now. I will not let them down." Idrial replied.

"Where will you and your companions go?" Galadriel asked.

"I do not know, Berethor wishes to find Boromir, I assume we will attempt to follow him." Idrial answered.

"That is no longer an option. Boromir has fallen, the fellowship have broken. The ring-bearer goes to Mordor with his Gardener, the other two hobbits have been taken captive by the Uruk-Hai and the last three members of the fellowship try to save them. You cannot follow the ring-bearer, for if you enter Mordor Sauron will know of it." Galadriel said quietly.

"Then what should we do?" Idrial asked.

"Saruman has declared war on Rohan, it would be best for you to aid them, they will need every sword." Galadriel asked.

"Then we will take the quickest route and go through the gullies." Idrial replied.

"You fear for the ring-bearer do you not?" Galadriel stated.

"The fates of us all depend on him, I fear he will be discovered and Sauron will reclaim the ring." Idrial replied.

"Do you wish to look into the mirror in the hope that you will see the ring bearer's fate?" Galadriel asked.

"Yes." Idrial answered.

"Very well then." Galadriel replied.

She filled the mirror with water and Idrial looked into it. She saw three images. The first was a stone fortress, men and elves stood upon the walls in the pouring rain as the faint outlines of torches and banners approached. The second was hundreds, even thousands of men riding horses charging into an army of orcs on a large field. The final image was a young woman laying in the grass on that same field, there were two arrows in her abdomen and a pool of blood beside her, then there was herself, trying to heal the woman, only the woman was already dead.

Idrial gasped and struggled for breath at what she saw, she calmed herself down but the visions continued to flash through her mind. She couldn't and wouldn't let that happen.

She returned to where they were camping and sat with the others.

"Where do we go fro here?" Berethor asked.

"East Emnet gullies, then to Rohan, we must aid them in their war." Idrial answerd

"But I need to find Boromir." Berethor protested.

"You will if we go to Rohan's aid." Idrial replied, it may have been a small lie but she could not tell him that Boromir was dead, not yet..

"When do we leave?" Elegost asked.

"Tomorrow." Idrial answered.

The next morning Idrial awoke and saw some packages on top of her dresser, she walked over and read the note attached.

"Dear Idrial, if you are reading this then it appears that you have become the warrior that your father and I wanted you to be, I hope you make good use of these good luck iel-nin."

Idrial reread the note at least ten times, tears formed in the corners of her eyes.

"Thank you." She whispered.

She opened the package to reveal fine steel armour. She got dressed and put on the armour. As she was attaching the vambraces to her arm there was a knock at the door and Galadriel entered.

"Your mother always wanted to see you wear that armour, it is a shame she could not." Galadriel said quietly.

"It is best that she did not, the last thing she would have wanted to see was her daughter preparing for war." Idrial replied.

"Speaking of preparing, I have your sword, bow, throwing knives and quiver." Galadriel said.

"Thank you." Idrial replied before equipping her weapons.

"I will leave you to get ready." Galadriel said quietly before leaving.

About an hour later they stood ready to leave. Everyone had been given grey cloaks and other gifts.

"_Try and return without any wounds for once."_ Celeborn said.

"_We both know how unlikely that is but I will try." _Idrial replied.

"_Be careful I sense a great evil at work in the south."_ Galadriel said softly.

One by one they climbed into the boats they had been given and headed for East Emnet.

**Author's note: Sorry for the delay with this by the way, my cousins were staying at my house all week and I wasn't allowed to stay in my room writing all day. Also I m back to school in a few days, starting year 10 (Oh fun, not!) So expect slower updates.**

**Elvish Translations (Ooops almost forgot.)**

**Iel-nin – My daughter.**

**Ego Mibo Orch – Go kiss an orc.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's note: So I hope everyone liked the rewrites I did and sorry for any typos and errors I have to wait for my parents to buy a new computer so I can have the old computer instead of wasting money to get my laptop fixed.**

**Disclaimer: I still own nothing.**

**Chapter 9: East Emnet Gullies.**

Elegost scoured the ground.

"Orcs ran this way." He muttered.

"What of the party from Rivendell?" Berethor asked.

"It is difficult to tell." Elegost answered before sighing. Neither of them seemed to notice an Uruk on a rock above them about to shoot.

An elf on an outcrop above the Uruk shot it, alerting Berethor and Elegost to it's presence.

"You should not scout so far ahead these lands are filled with danger." The elf said simply.

"Have you been following us?" Berethor demanded.

"Yes for many days, your companion requested it." The elf answered.

"Yes I cannot protect all of you all the time." Idrial replied.

"I am perfectly able to defend myself!" Berethor protested.

"I have buried others who have said those words." the elf retorted

"Thank you for your aid." Berethor said slightly embarrassed.

"Not another elf." Hadhod grumbled.

"Wait until you find out who he is." Elegost muttered.

"So who are you anyways?" Berethor questioned.

"I am Aranel of Lothlorien, and Idrial's twin brother." Aranel answered.

"Elf twins, could this get any worse." Hadhod complained.

"Count your blessings; Aranel does not have a short temper unlike some people." Elegost joked, Idrial rolled her eyes at te ranger as a warning.

"Idrial you have a brother?" Berethor questioned.

"Two brothers actually although my older brother left Middle Earth over 2000 years ago." Idrial answered.

"We should go, orcs patrol the shore at night." Aranel said.

They went deeper into the gullies and found themselves inside a warg cave.

"Be on your guard, we have entered the den of a very old, very hungry warg." Elegost warned. Everyone instinctively drew their weapons and were as quiet as possible but it was to no avail. The warg found them and charged past Hadhod, knocking him to the ground. Idrial helped him up before they attacked the warg.

They were lucky that the warg was old otherwise it probably would have devoured them, the warg put up quite a fight and delivered some nasty wounds to everyone. After what felt like hours of trying to slay the beast they prevailed although no one escaped unscathed.

"We have to stop here tonight, we need to recover." Aranel said.

Idrial and Elegost were healing everyone while Aranel fell asleep

"I will take first watch, Aranel will take the second." Idrial said while yawning.

"Idrial you are too tired I will take watch, we can survive one night without you on guard." Elegost replied.

"I am fine." Idrial protested.

"You are weary from healing the others, I will take watch, you are no use to us if you are falling asleep." Elegost argued. Idrial too tired to argue finally agreed and fell asleep

It was an uneventful night and as they wandered around the gullies they noticed an Uruk blockade.

"There is too many." Berethor said quietly.

"Behind the horse, a man still alive." Aranel whispered.

At this Idrial charged forwards closely followed by Elegost and Hadhod. Berethor and Aranel glanced at each other then rushed forward to attack the Uruk-Hai.

Unfortunately for them Uruk-Hai were a lot harder to kill than orcs, or at least these Uruk Hai were, they battled for hours but no one was backing off. Idrial and Aranel were stod back to back trying to fend off the Uruk Hai while Berethor, Hadhod and Elegost were surrounded by the other Uruks. They were struggling since none of them had fully recovered from their wounds

As they started to gain the upper hand the Uruks retreated. They had to stop and rest, the battle had exhausted them and wounded them. The rohirric soldier behind his horse was also wounded but there was not much they could do when they were so fatigued.

"What should we do." Elegost asked.

"I do not know, I cannot heal him while I am fatigued, I would be best to heal his wounds now and finish healing him tomoro." Idrial answered while sighing.

Dawn came quickly and once again Idrial and Elegost went round healing everyone. Aranel had to return to Lothlorien so he would leave them once they reached the edge of Rohan.

"Farewell sister, try to be careful." Aranel said.

"I will be fine, stpp worrying I am perfectly able to defend myself." Idrial protested.

"Then why do you always come home wounded after going hunting?" Aranel asked.

"Because I attack too many orcs." Idrial answered.

"Just be careful." Aranel replied.

"Fine, namarie." Idrial said while sighing.

"Namarie." Aranel replied.

He ran back towards the gullies while Berethor's group and the rohirric soldier they rescued started the trek aacross the plains of Rohan.

**Elvish Translations:**

**Namarie – Farewell**

**A/N: Sorry if it's short, I will try and make the next chapter longer.**

**Please review, no flames though.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's note: Chapter 10 already wow, and I have tried to make this chapter longer.**

**Elvish will be in italics.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

**Chapter 10:**

They ran across the plains of Rohan with haste but occasionally they had to stop for the rohirric soldier who was travelling with them. After just over a day of running they came across some riders.

"What business do 2 men an elf and a dwarf have in the riddermark?" The rider questioned.

"We heard of war spreading through the plains and wish to offer our aid." Idrial answered.

"Then we welcome your aid, we shall need every sword soon." The rider replied.

"How can we be of service?" Berethor asked.

"Our forces gather in Helm's deep, it is best you make your way there." The rider answered.

"What is the quickest route?" Elegost asked.

"I suggest going through a village no more than 1 league from here, then head to snowbourne, there is a road by the mountains you should reach Helm's deep in two days." The rider explained.

"Thank you." Berethor replied.

The soldier they had saved went with the riders leaving them to go to the village. When they reached the village it was destroyed and burning, not far off there was a young rohirric woman trying to fight off some orcs.

They ran forward to aid the maiden although she proved that she could handle herself as when they got to her she had almost killed all the orcs.

"Thank you, in times like this it is hard to know who you can trust." The maiden said quietly.

"You are wounded, let me help you." Idrial replied as she walked over to where the maiden stood.

"Thank you. But I must go." The woman said, slightly anxious.

/"This will not take long." Idrial replied as she quickly healed the young warrior.

"I need to find my family." The warrior said, her voice was weak and shaky Idrial felt a pang of sympathy for her.

"We will help you, Elegost here is a ranger and should be able to find them." Idrial replied, she wanted to help, she wanted to spare her from the pain of losing her family.

"Thank you, I assume ty have headed to Helm's Deep along with the rest of Rohan." The warrior muttered.

"That is our road." Berethor stated.

"Very well then." The warrior replied.

"Wait, how do we know we can trust this one." Hadhod grumbled.

"Because I am Morwen of Rohan, and friend to Gimli son of Gloin." Morwen replied.

"My apologies I meant no offense." Hadhod said, slightly humbled.

They had been walking for a while when Morwen began to speak.

"Idrial, I thought all the elves were leaving Middle Earth, that is what I have heard from travellers." Morwen said, slightly confused.

"Many elves have departed and many more will leave, but some remain, I will be one of the elves who does not leave, for this is home to me and I do not wish to forsake it for an unknown land." Idrial replied.

"Are your friends and family leaving?" Morwen asked.

"My grandmother and my uncle are leaving, and most of my friends are mortal." Idrial answered.

"What about your parents?" Morwen asked.

"They cannot leave, they died a long time ago." Idrial said quietly, a slight tear formed in the corner of one of her eyes.

"Sorry." Morwen muttered.

"It is fine." Idrial replied before walking slightly ahead of the group. There were not a lot of things that could upset Idrial but her parents' deaths always upset her.

When they reached snowbourne, several horses had been left behind which they decided to ride so they could reach Helm's deep faster. They discovered that Hadhod could not ride a horse and he had to share a horse with Elegost, they rode fast, the quicker they reached Helm's deep the better.

After riding for several hours Elegost noticed something on the ground, he dismounted and followed the tail.

"A man and a woman were lay here, they were ambushed by orcs, they huddled here until the very end." Elegost said quietly. Morwen knelt beside the bodies.

"Mother, father." She cried, her voice barely above that of a whisper. Idrial felt a surge of anger, she grabbed one of her knives from her boot and threw it at the cliffs before sitting against the same cliffs underneath where her knife was now stuck. Hadhod and Berethor looked confused but Elegost just signalled for them to leave it be.

Elegost went and sat beside her as she was crsing herself in elvish.

"_What ails you mellon-nin?" Elegost asked._

"_I am a fool, I tried to kill the orcs so no one had to suffer what I did, but I failed and now Morwen suffers because of it." Idrial answered angrily._

"_You really blame yourself?" Elegost replied._

"_It is my fault is it not?" Idrial asked her anger still lingered in her voice._

"_It is not your fault, for every orc yu have killed, Sauron bred ten more there was nothing you could do mellon-nin." Elegost said quietly trying to get her to calm down._

"_I need to be alone." Idrial replied._ Elegost sighed and walked towards the others, who were all intrigued as they tried to figure out what they had been saying.

"It is best we stop here for the night, Idrial will not be calming down any time soon." Elegost muttered.

They stopped to rest for the night, Elegost and Hadhod kept watch as they could easily be ambushed from the cliffs above..

Dawn came and Idrial seemed to control her anger so they left at first light. They were riding fast to make up for lost time when they came across an rohirric outrider. They approached him and all but Morwen seemed wary of him.

"You are more than a warrior my friend." Morwen said her words were kind and sincere.

"You are correct, I am Eaoden, of Theoden's royal guard." The rider introduced himself.

"We are headed for Helm's Deep, would you care to join us?" Morwen offered.

"Thank you lady, I am happy to travel with you." Eaoden replied courteously.. They spoke briefly before setting off again, eager to reach the fortress.

It was getting close to dusk when they reached Helm's Deep as they rode towards the gate they could sense the anxiety that hung in the air around the fortress.

"Long have my people thought this the stronghold of Rohan, now I am not so sure." Idrial muttered. Just then a guard appeared at the top of the gate.

"The gate is closed. What is your business?" The guard called.

"It is the business of the king." Eaoden replied.

"I shall allow it." The guard called.

"You know the watch words, you spoke true, you are of his court." Morwen said. Eaoden sent her a brief smile before they rode through the gates.

**Elvish translation:**

**Mellon-nin – my friend.**

**A/N: Yay Helm's deep is coming up, I will try and update soon I am really excited to write Helm's deep so I probably will update tomorrow maybe even tonight.**

**Please review, no flames though.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's note: Here it is Helm's Deep I will probably separate it into 2 or 3 chapters since there is a LOT to write about.**

**Disclaimer: I still own nothing.**

**Chapter 11:**

Idrial walked into to the stables and saw a wounded Aragorn stood by his horse.

"I see you are the first to become wounded just like old times." Idrial joked.

"I was dragged off a cliff this time though." Aragorn protested.

"And my brother wonders why we always come back wounded after hunting trips." Idrial joked.

"It is not that hard to figure out why." Aragorn teased.

"Sometimes I wonder how he is so amazing with political problems when he cannot figure out the obvious." Idrial joked.

"Well tonight I fear we will be more than wounded." Aragorn said grimly.

"We will survive we always have and besides how many orcs can there be?" Idrial replied, trying to fake confidence.

"Why don't you go see for yourself, Legolas is on the deeping wall he said he could see the enemy approaching." Aragorn suggested.

"I see you are still eager to get rid of me." Idrial joked before walking away, Aragorn was like a brother to her only unlike her real brother he wasn't protective over her.

Elegost and Hadhod had gone into the dining hall since Hadhod wanted to eat and drink ale, Elegost was glad to know that the threat of battle hadn't made the dwarf nervous. The dwarf had gotten a mug of ale when a loud voice called across the room.

"Hadhod!" The voice called, Elegost and Hadhod looked to where the voice was coming from and saw Gimli sat with some mutton and a mug of ale

"Gimli!" Hadhod called. He moved across the room and sat beside his friend.

"Never thought I would see you here my friend." Gimli said happily.

"Aye, I never expected to be here myself." Hadhod replied. Elegost walked over and sat opposite the two dwarves.

"I see that Elegost has come with you." Gimli stated.

"Not just the ranger, a man of Gondor, two rohirric warriors and an elf." Hadhod muttered, still disgusted by the fact he was voluntarily travelling with an elf.

"Not another ruddy elf!" Gimli complained.

"What's worse is that I have been travelling with a She elf." Hadhod grumbled,

"Hadhod do not complain, you could be travelling with elves that are far worse than Idrial." Elegost warned him.

"Yes but then we had to put up with her brother as well." Hadhod complained.

"I do not understand why you have such a problem with elves." Elegost replied.

"Ancient distrust my friend, ancient distrust." Hadhod said mysteriously.

Idrial had taken Aragorn's advice and gone to the deeping wall, she saw Legolas stood out on a platform.

"What do you see mellon-nin?" Idrial asked, Legolas spun round at the sound of her voice.

"You have to stop sneaking up on people like that." Legolas grumbled.

"I was not trying to sneak up n anyone., it is second nature really, but you can blame the Dunedain for teaching me stealth." Idrial said innocently as she went to stand beside him.

"A skill that is both useful and annoying." Legolas muttered.

Idrial gazed into the distance and could see the faint outlines of banners and torches.

"How many?" Idrial asked.

"Ten thousand at least, this is a fight we cannot win." Legolas said quietly.

"You think it is impossible for us to win?" Idrial replied.

"There is ten thousand Uruk-Hai out there and we have some three hundered soldiers, most of whom have never fought before, there is no way for us to win." Legolas said gloomily.

"Where there is life there is hope, believe in that, believe that we can win this battle." Idrial said quietly.

"You always have hope rial, but hope alone cannot defeat an army." Legolas replied.

"I know, but people will fight because they have hope." Idrial said quietly.

"You really believe we can win this fight." Legolas replied.

"We have a chance.." Idrial said, she had to stay optimistic to try and keep everyone in high spirits.

Berethor was speaking to Aragorn in the stables as night seemed to draw closer.

"Ten thousand orcs!" Berethor exclaimed.

"Yes, let us hope we can last until dawn." Aragorn replied.

"Do Rohan have any allies that could aid us?" Berethor asked.

"No, Denethor will not send reinforcements, Dol Amroth is too far, and the elves have to fight their own battles, we are on our own." Aragorn answered sadly.

"Why can't the elves aid us?" Berethor asked.

"Mirkwood is constantly under siege from Dol Guldur, Rivendell has to look to it's own defences, and the elves of Lorien rarely hear news of the outside world save that which comes from Rivendell, by the time the elves of Lorien found out it would be too late for them to aid us." Aragorn explained.

"Then we are doomed." Berethor muttered.

"No not doomed, this fortress and the people of Rohan are strong, we can outlast them." Aragorn replied.

The sun was starting to set when everyone was stood in the armoury preparing for battle. No one spoke, the battle weighed heavily on their minds, it was Aragorn who was first to speak.

"Farmers, merchants and stable boys, these are not soldiers." Aragorn said mournfully.

"Many have seen too many winters." Gimli continued.

"Or too few, look at them they are terrified." Legolas replied.

"Boe a hyn neled herain dan caer menig." He continued, slipping into elvish so the soldiers could not understand him.

"Si beriathar hyn ammaeg na ned Edoras." Aragorn argued.

"Aragorn, nedin dagor hen u-erir ortheri, natha daged dhaer." Legolas protested.

"Then I shall die as one of them!" Aragorn yelled before storming out of the room. Legolas went to follow him but Gimli grabbed his arm.

"Let him go lad, let him blow off some steam." Gimli said quietly, Idrial glared at Legolas before walking out of the room. Elegost was now the only other person in the room who knew exactly what they had said, for everyone else it was guesswork but they assumed it was pretty bad if it caused Aragorn to storm off like that.

Their thoughts were interrupted b a loud horn call at the gate.

"Not the orcs already." Berethor groaned as everyone ran to the gate.

The gate opened and elves marched through. Idrial instantly realised that her brother would be among the archers, suddenly the battle seemed less hopeless now. The elves were lead by Haldir, who was closely followed by Elladan and Elrohir. Theoden looked at the elves, he was shocked at their arrival.

"I bring word from Lord Elrond of Rivendell, there was once an alliance between men and elves, we come to honour that alliance." Haldir announced.

Idrial smiled to herself, if Hadhod thought two elves were bad she wanted to see his reaction to two hundred.

"Mae govannen lady Idrial." Haldir said kindly before taking one of her hands and gently kissing it. #she stepped back and slipped her hand out of his grasp, behind her Aragorn was struggling to contain his laughter.

Little cousins Idrial, what are you doing here?" Elladan and Elrohir teased as they walked over to her.

"I think you know by now, I am the one who likes leaving Lorien and fighting, it's Aranel who stays in Lorien." Idrial replied.

"We know." Elladan and Elrohir chimed. Idrial pretended to glare at them but they just laughed. Legolas walked over to Aragorn, he needed to apologise.

"Aragorn forgive me, I was wrong to despair." Legolas said sincerely.

"There is nothing to forgive Legolas." Aragorn replied, and he gave the elf a comradely clap on the shoulder.

It was not long after that most of the army were lined up along the deeping wall, with their bows at the ready.

"This is ideal for you, it will be almost impossible for you to miss." Legolas joked, earning him a mock glare from Idrial, unlike most elves Idrial was not very accurate with a bow, which often meant she would be teased either by her brother, her cousins or Aragorn and Legolas.

"There is a reason I made sure I had plenty of throwing knives before we came up here." Idrial replied. Legolas smirked slightly.

The enemy army continued to approach, they finally stopped about 20 metres away from the wall.

That was when it started to rain.

**Elvish translations:**

**Mae govannen – well met.**

**Boe a hyn neled herain dan caer menig – And they should be three hundred, against ten thousand.**

**Si beriathar hyn ammaeg na ned Edoras – They have more hope of defending themselves here than at Edoras**

**nedin dagor hen u-erir ortheri, natha daged dhaer – They cannot win this fight they are all going to die!**

**A/N: I am not sure when my next update will be it mmight be tomorrow, I am going back to school on Thursday,, so if I don't update tomorrow I probably will either Friday or some point this weekend, since I can't do cricket until I have done physio and I have no idea when tat wil happen.**

**Please review no flames though**

**Thank you to veryon who has reviewed this fic so far it means lot to know what people think of my writing.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's note: Well finally at the battle of Helm's Deep, thank you to everyone who has favourited, followed and reviewed this story so far.**

**Disclaimer: I still own nothing**

**Chapter 12:  
**

It began to pour with, darkness surrounded them and the Uruk Hai struck at their shields making a horrible noise.

"What's happening out there?" Gimli asked as he jumped to try and see over the wall.

"Shall I describe it to you, or would you like me to find you a box to stand on." Legolas joked, Gimli stopped jumping and laughed sarcastically and Idrial had to hide a smirk.

"A Eruchin u-dano I faelas a hyn an uben tanatha le faelas." Aragorn shouted to the elven warriors.

They were a menacing sight, about five hundred soldiers lining the walls of Helm's deep, everyone with a bow at the ready and an arrow notched, waiting to fire. The Uruk Hai continued to try and intimidate them with t sound of their weapons striking their shields.

Suddenly an elderly man accidentally let go of his arrow and shot an Uruk Hai and killed it.

"Dartho!" Aragorn yelled, the Uruk Hai began to advance.

"Tangado a chadhad!" Aragorn shouted.

"Faeg i-varv din na lanc a nu ranc." Legolas yelled.

"Hado I pilinn!" Aragorn shouted. The elven army fired, a volley of arrows rained upon the Uruk Hai, killing many of those that were near the front.

"Release the arrows!" Theoden yelled to his men.

Volley after volley of arrows were released simultaneously, if the battle continued to go like this, the army of men had a good chance of winning.

Uruk Hai began to reach the bottom of th deeping wall and put up ladders so they could reach the top.

"Swords, swords1" Aragorn yelled, almost in perfect unison the elves and men drew their swords and began to hack at the Uruk Hai that were climbing te ladders, Morwen jumped u on to the edge and kicked of a ladder, she heard a resounding crunch as the ladder crushed the Uruk Hai below.

Eaoden had found an advantage to wielding a spear in a battle like this, he could skewer several Uruk Hai at once as they climbed the ladders. Despite their size Hadhod and Gimli were making quick work of the Uruk, and found great pleasure in cutting them in half with their axes.

Amongst the commotion you could hear Legolas and Gimli counting off each Uruk they killed, much to the amusement of the others.

Elegost was standing further up the wall and shooting Uruks as they climbed the ladders, which caused other Uruks to fall of. For Berethor the army seemed never ending, as soon as he killed one Uruk another would take it's place almost instantly.

Idrial ducked to avoid a blow that would have cut her head off and quickly finished off the Uruk, she worried about her brother, she knew he never liked using a sword, she hoped that he was okay.

They fought for hours and nobody was giving an inch, th army of men and elves were suffering some casualties but not as many as the Uruks. Theoden was observing the battle on the deeping wall, it seemed as though the enemy were failing.

"Is this all you can conjure Saruman?" He muttered to himself.

As soon as he said those words, Uruks started placing large spiked balls in the drain, a few soldiers were slightly distracted by this but ignored it and fought on. It was only when an Uruk carrying a torch was running towards the drain Aragorn realised what was about to happen.

"Shoot him Legolas, kill him!" Aragorn yelled.

Legolas fired, the first arrow hit the Uruk in the shoulder but it kept on running despite a lack of armour, the second arrow landed next to the first but the Uruk kept running.

It dived into the drain and in less than a second the middle of the wall exploded.

Aragorn, Elegost, Gimli, Hadhod and Idrial all went flying off the wall as it exploded and landed on the ground with a large thump, bodies of soldiers littered the area around them.

There was a few seconds when neither army knew what had happened and just stood there but the battle resumed soon enough as Uruks began to charge through the drain, Aragorn and the others jumped up and charged towards the Uruks.

Legolas grabbed a nearby elven shield and slid down the steps, firing as he went, when he reached the bottom he kicked the shield into an Uruks throat and began to fight the charging Uruks.

The Uruk Hai began to overwhelm those who were fighting in the drain and they were pushed back onto the remaining part of the wall.

"Aragorn, fall back, fall back to the keep!" Theoden yelled.

"Nan barad, nan barad!" Aragorn yelled to the elves as they strated to fall back.

Aranel began to run towards the kep when he noticed Idrial still fighting and he was forced to drag her back to the keep.

"Aranel, what are you doing? I can fight!" Idrial protested. Aranel let go of her as soon as they were inside the keep. Idrial brushed something of her arm before speaking to her brother.

"Aranel why did you do that?" Idrial asked. But efore he could answer Aragorn walked over.

"Idrial, we need to provide a distraction." Aragorn said sharply.

Aragorn, Gimli and Idrial stood against the wall that was a short distance away from the gate.

"Let me at em." Gimli said excitedly, Aragorn looked to his right before glancing at the dwarf.

"It is a long way." Aragorn replied quietly.

"Toss me." Gimli said quietly and Aragorn shot him a confused look.

"I cannot jump the distance, you will have to tos me." Gimli explained. Aragorn went to throw the dwarf but Gimli stopped him.

"Don't tell the elf." Gimli muttered.

"Not one word." Aragorn replied before thowing Gimli onto the bridge, Idrial jumped after and Aragorn brought up the rear.

They held off the Uruk Hai and kept them from th gate while soldiers behind reinforced it.

"Aragorn we are done, get out of there!" Theoden yelled.

Legolas was still on the deeping wall and saw th three out on the bridge, he grabbed an Uruk rope and threw it down to them. Aragorn grabbed Gimli and held onto the rope with Idrial just behind them, Berethor, Eaoden and Morwen covered Legolas as he pulled them up. Aragorn and Gimli jumped onto the wall and Idrial was slightly behind. The Uruks continued to climb onto the wall and they ran back into the keep as the sky began to grow lighter.

They stood inside the keep with Theoden, the sounds of battle outside rang clearly through the deep.

"What can men do against this?" Theoden muttered sadly to himself.

Cracks of sunlight peered into the keep.

"At dawn on the fifth day look to east." Gandalf's words ran through Aragorn's mind.

"Ride out wit me." Aragorn said confidently.

"For death and for glory." Theoden replied.

"For Rohan and your people." Aragorn continued.

Gimli left and ran to the horn above the keep.

Everyone sat nervously on their horses, the gates opened slowly and Gimli blew loudly ito the horn as everyone charged forwards.

On a hilltop to the east Gandalf appeared with Eomer beside him. Then hundreds of Rohirrim appeared behind them and they charged down the hill as Theoden's army charged into h Uruks,

The Uruk Hai that survived fled into the forest. Here was a loud groan and then a crunching sound and the Uruk Hai were no more.

The army of men and elves had won.

**Elvish translations:**

**Nan barad – Fall back**

**A Eruchin u-dano I faelas a hyn an uben tanatha le faelas – Children of Eru show no mercy for you shall receive none.**

**Dartho – Hold**

**Tangado A chadhad – prepare to fire**

**Faeg i-varv din na lanc a nu ranc – Their armour is weak at the neck and beneath the arm**

**Hado I pilinn – Release the arrows**

**A/N: I hope you liked this chapter please review but no flames please.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's note: I will be updating slower starting tomorrow because I have to go back to school tomorrow, also sorry in advance for any typos in this chapter, I really wanted to update today to give you guys a chapter before I have school but there is a lot of fog outside so there is not much light reflecting onto my laptop but just enough so I can see what I am writing. **

**Elvish will be in italics.**

**Disclaimer: Hey guess what! I still own nothing.**

**Chapter 13:**

They went back into the fortress and saw all the women and children being let out f the caves.

"_How many have lost their children to this battle?" _Idrial asked as she saw mothers grieving over their sons that were forced to fight.

"_Too many, those children did not know how to fight, there was no hope for them." _Aranel answered.

"_How many elves survived?"_ Idrial asked, she dreaded the answer.

"_About seventy, I do not know how we will survive the sieges now." _Aranel answered sadly

"_What?"_ Idrial asked, slightly confused, slightly stunned.

"_Our home is being assaulted by orcs and other foul creatures, I_ _am not sure how we will survive now." _Aranel replied mournfully.

"_Are you returning home?"_ Idrial asked.

"_No, I was told to make sure that you don't get yourself killed."_ Aranel answered.

"Well ranger we survived, I am not sure how but we survived." Hadhod said merrily.

"You thought that we would die? " Elegost questioned.

"After the wall exploded I thought we were doomed." Hadhod replied.

"We were not doomed, but we did not have much chance to survive I will admit that." Elegost said while sighing.

"Come, let's go get some ale." Hadhod replied, Elegost laughed but followed him.

Gimli was sat on a dead Uruk and was smoking from a pipe when Legolas walked over to him.

"Final count forty-two." Legolas said while looking at his bow.

"Forty-two that's not bad for a pointy-eared elvish princeling but I am sitting pretty on forty-three." Gimli replied while laughing. Legolas took an arrow from his quiver and fired it at the dead Uruk.

"Forty-three." Legolas corrected.

"He was already dead!" Gimli complained.

"He was twitching." Legolas said innocently.

"He was twitching because he's got my axe embedded in his nervous system." Gimli replied while moving his axe, making the Uruk twitch even more.

Idrial walked over to the two of them.

"Have either of you seen Haldir?" She asked.

"No." They answered.

"_Is something wrong?" _Legolas asked.

"_I have to return home, Lothlorien is under siege and with the losses we suffered here, I doubt they can hold out much longer." Idrial answered, fear was evident in her voice._

"_I am sure it will be fine, they would have asked you to stay when you were in Lothlorien if they needed you." Legolas replied reassuringly._

"_It was not being attacked then." Idrial said quietly._

"_Your grandmother would have foreseen the attacks, you have nothing to worry about."_ Legolas replied, Idrial forced herself to smile but she still worried about her home.

"What were you two talking about?" Gimli asked.

"My home is under attack, and we suffered heavy losses here, I worry that Lothlorien will fall." Idrial answered.

"Lothlorien will be fine, after all it is protected by the beautiful Lady Galadriel." Gimli replied happily, Idrial had to stop herself from laughing.

"Gimli, you do realise that Lady Galadriel is actually my grandmother." Idrial said whilst trying to hold back her laughter. Gimli coughed at this.

"But she does not look old enough to be a grandmother." Gimli replied worriedly, he hoped that Idrial was joking.

"Elves look a lot younger than they actually are because we are immortal, after al Legolas is nearing 3000 years old." Idrial explained.

"Thank you rial." Legolas said sarcastically before trying to swat her, once again she dodged just in time.

"Your welcome." Idrial replied.

Gimli was still getting over the shock that Galadriel was a grandmother and just sat there silently causing the two elves to laugh at him.

A few hours later they rode to Isengard, most of the time they were cheering over their victory, when they finally arrived Isengard was all but destroyed, it was completely flooded, all the machinery had been turned to debris then they noticed ents stood around all of Isengard.. They rode forwards slightly and found two hobbits feasting and smoking atop a large rock.

"Welcome my Lords and Ladies to Isengard." Merry said happily.

"You little rascals!" Gimli yelled, despite his words he was overjoyed to see the two of them.

"We are enjoying some well earned food on a field of victory." Pippin declared.

The hobbits ran towards them, Merry sat on the back of Eomer's horse and Pippin sat on Shadowfax with Gandalf. They slowly rode towards Orthanc where Treebeard stood guard.

"Show yourself." Aragorn muttered.

"Be careful, even in defeat Saruman is dangerous." Gandalf warned.

"Then let's just have his head and be done with it.!" Gimli replied.

"No, we need him to talk." Gandalf said sternly.

Just then Saruman appeared at the top of Orthanc

"You have fought many wars and slain many foes Theoden king and made peace afterwards cane we not take counsel together as we once did? Can we not have peace?" Saruman said.

"We shall have peace." Theoden started earning him menacing looks from the others.

"We shall have peace when you answer for the burning of the westfold and the children that lay dead there! We shall have peace when the lives of the soldiers whose bodies were hewn even as they lay dead against te gates of the Hornburg are avenged! When you hang from a gibbet for the sport of your own crows!" We shall have peace." Theoden yelled

"Gibbets and crows, Dotard!" Saruman snapped His gaze flicked to left and he saw Idrial with a look of disgust on her face.

"You should be dead, it should have been you and your weakling brother that died when your parents did." Saruman yelled. Idrial felt enraged, it was one thing to insult her but to insult her brother was dangerous ground. She opened her mouth to speak but Gandalf must have anticipated what she was going to say.

"Idrial be silent." Gandalf warned.

"What do you want Gandalf Greyhame the key of Orthanc or perhaps the key of Barad-dur itself, what about the crowns of the seven kings and the rods of the five wizards!" Saruman yelled

"Your treachery has cost many lives and thousands more are now at risk but you could save them Saruman you were deep in the enemy's counsel." Gandalf replied.

"So you have come for information I have some for you, something festers in the heart of Middle Earth something that you have failed to see but the great eye has seen it even now he presses his advantage his attack will come soon you are all going to die, but you know this don't you Gandalf you cannot think that this ranger will ever sit on the throne of Gondor this exile crept from the shadows will never be crowned king, Gandalf sacrifices those closest to him, those he professes to love tell me what words of comfort did you give the Halfling before you sent him to your doom. The path you have set him on can only lead to death." Saruman hissed earning him glares from everyone there.

"That's it I've heard enough shoot him, stick an arrow in his gob." Gimli grumbled, Legolas was happy to oblige and reachef for sn arrow..

"No. Come down Saruman and your life will be spared." Gandalf said sternly.

"Save your pity and your mercy I have no use for it!" Saruman yelled. He cast a flame down at Gandalf, the flames disappeared and Gandalf was unharmed.

"Your staff is broken." Gandalf replied firmly and with that Saruman's staff crumbled to pieces. Grima appeared behind Saruman at the sound of the staff breaking.

"Grima you need not follow him, you were not always as you are now, you were once a man of Rohan." Theoden yelled.

"A man of Rohan what is the house of Rohan apart from a thatched barn where brigands drink in the reek and rats roll on the floor with the dogs? The victory at Helm's Deep does not belong to you, Theoden horsemaster you are a lesser son of great sires." Saruman hissed. Saruman turned and hit Grima round the face, knocking him to the ground.

"Saruman you were deep in the enemy's counsel tel uswhat you know!" Gandalf yelled. Grima snuck up behind Saruman and stabed him twice, Legolas quickly shot Grima but not fast enough and Saruman began to plummet from the top of Orthanc until he landed on a spike at the base with a sickening snap.

Pippin jumped off Gandalf's horse as he noticed a glint of light in the water.

"Pippin!" Aragorn called. Pippin reached down and grabbed the palantir.

"'l'll take that Peregrin Took." Gandalf said firmly and took the palantir from Pippin and wrapped it in a cloth.

They rode back to Edoras as fast as possible and arrived the next day. That evening there was a celebration, everyone at Edoras was in the great hall.

"Let us honour the dead and drink to their sacrifice!" Theoden announced.

"Hail the victorious dead!" Everyone in the hall called. At one of the tables to the side Gimli had challenged Legolas to a drinking contest

"So this is a drinking game?" Legolas said confused.

"Last one standing wins! But I am not sure that you would be up to it, I hear elves aren't up to drinking large quantities of ale. You certainly wouldn't be able to handle it princeling." Gimli replied.

Eomer and other men gathered round and paced numerous mugs of ale to the elf and dwarf. About 30 minutes into the game and the ale was clearly affecting Gimli as he began saying some very bizarre things.

"It's the dwarves that go swimming with the little hairy women!" Gimli slurred.

After about another half an hour Legolas decided to trick the dwarf. He raised his hand and stared at it.

"I feel something I think it is affecting me." Legolas said quietly.

"What I say he can't hold his liquor!" Gimli cheered. After saying that he fell backwards off his seat and passed out.

"Game over." Legolas muttered.

Merry and Pippin were singing and dancing while encouraging everyone to get dead drunk. Eaoden and Morwen were already incredibly drunk and kept tripping over as they danced.

Elegost, Hadhod and Berethor laughed at the two rohirrans, Berethor and Hadhod were drinking as they watched but Elegost only had two mugs of ale, after he got married Elegost swore he would never get drunk.

Idrial sat on top of a bench with her own mug of ale as she watched the hobbits dance, Legolas came over and sat beside her.

"Ale rial really?" Legolas joked.

"I was raised by the dunedain what's your excuse?" Idrial replied, when she lived with the dunedain after they defeated some orcs they would all celebrate with a mug of ale it didn't take her long to get used to drinking it.

"What do you mean?" Legolas asked.

"You stink of ale." Idrial replied as she pushed him away.

"You should be used to it if you were raised by the rangers." Legolas teased.

"Yes but I am not used to one person drinking at least thirty mugs of ale." Idrial complained.

"Gimli challenged me to a drinking contest." Legolas replied.

"Am I right to assume that you didn't tell him that elves are immune to the effects of alcohol." Idrial said.

"Maybe." Legolas said innocently Idrial laughed then glanced over to where Gimli was passed out on the floor. The smile quickly left her face.

"I am going to find somewhere quiet." Idrial said quietly as she got up to leave. Aragorn came over and stood beside Legolas.

"What was that about?" Aragorn asked.

"I am not sure." Legolas answered.

The celebrations ended shortly after most people retired, Legolas walked outside and saw Idrial stood out there, staring into the distance, she looked as though she had been crying.

"Mellon nin are you alright?" Legolas asked.

"My parents died because of me, I should be dead right now." Idrial answered quietly, her voice was choked up she had definitely been crying.

"Don't say that, if you were dead then Aragorn and Gilraen wouldn't have made it to Rivendell, Aranel wouldn't have his sister, Talion would have never sailed. Then what would it be like now. Everything happens for a reason rial, if the valar willed your parents to die then there was nothing you could do." Legolas said softly, Idrial turned to face him.

"Do you know how hard it is to know that my parents died when I was supposed to, I have to live knowing that forever." Idrial replied.

"You were not supposed to die, your parents fought for you and Aranel so that you would live, they wanted you to live." Legolas said quietly although he was starting to become frustrated.

"I wish they were still here." Idrial said softly, Legolas felt sorry for her and pulled her into a hug.

"I know." Legolas whispered.

Idrial looked up at him, she was lucky to have him as friend, he always knew what to say to make her feel better. Legolas looked down at her, no elf should see their parents killed, much less when they were a child, he was surprised that she hadn't faded but she was a fighter, she didn't give up easily.

Their eyes met and before they realised it they were kissing.

**A/N: That is my longest chapter ever, over 2000 words, it is shorter than I originally intended but I am running out of writing light today and wanted to give you an update before I went back to school, and yes I am cruel leaving it on a sort of cliff hanger but it had to be done **

**Please review no flames though **

**Well I gotta go get ready for school tomorrow I will try and update soon ;-)**

**Thank you to all my reviewers, favouriters and followers you guys are amazing. **


	14. Chapter 14

**Author's note: Mot of my updates will be at the weekend now because school is busy, I got 2 pieces of homework on the first day back when we only had 4 lessons since we had to have a big assembly first lesson.**

**Elvish that I cannot find the actual translation for will be in Italics.**

**Disclaimer: Hey! I still own nothing, no surprise there.**

**(Sorry if this is an annoying author's note, I was in a pretty sarcastic mood when I wrote this.)**

**Chapter 14:**

Aranel walked outside, trying to find Idrial he walked out and saw her mid-kiss with Legolas.

"Get away from my sister!" Aranel yelled, they broke apart instantly and looked at him.

"_How dare you!" _Aranel yelled.

"_Aranel calm down" _Idrial said softly.

"_No! If I ever see you near my sister again I have a sword and a shovel and I doubt you'd be missed." _Aranel snapped before grabbing Idrial's wrist an pulling her back inside.

A few minutes later Aragorn walked outside and stood beside Legolas.

"Something stirs in the east, a sleepless malice." Legolas said quietly.

"He is here." Legolas whispered a few moments later. They ran into the room they had been staying in and saw Pippin holding the palantir, Aragorn took it from Pippin and nearly fell to the floor, luckily Legolas was there to catch him before he hit the ground, the palantir fell to the floor and Gandalf quickly threw a cloth over it.

"Fool of a took!" Gandalf bellowed , he then turned round and saw Pippin laying on the floor, as stiff as a statue and his face was white like a sheet.. He bent over and pressed his hands against Pippins face, he was breathing fast but slowly calmed down.

"I… I saw an eye, he asked me my name, I didn't answer he tortured me, I saw a white tree burning." Pippin stammered. Most people in the room breathed a huge sigh of relief, but Aragorn and Berethor were now extremely worried.

"There was no lie in Pippin's eyes, he was a fool but an honest fool he remains." Gandalf said. Everyone had gathered in the great hall after the palantir issue, many were still tired and not completely awake.

"We are fortunate, Pippin managed to see a glimpse of the enemy's plan, if the beacons of Gondor are lit Rohan must be ready for war." Gandalf continued.

"Tell me Gandalf why should we aid Gondor? What have they ever done for us? Where was Gondor when the westfold fell? When have Gondor ever come to the aid of Rohan?" Theoden replied.

"When have Rohan ever aided the elves? Out of the two hundred elves that came to your aid at Helm's Deep only seventy survived, Lothlorien is under siege and they still sent aid to you. It is not about who owes who, if we are to ever defeat the dark lord we must stand together or fall into darkness alone." Idrial said sharply.

A few hours later Gandalf and Pippin had left for Minas Tirith, Aragorn and Berethor kept watch for the beacons, although Berethor knew that Denethor would not light the beacons, he just hoped that Gandalf could somehow convince him.

Late at night Idrial stood in the stables readying her horse, she had to return to Lothlorien she had to help with the defence. She was so distracted that she didn't here Legolas coming.

"_Did you think that you could sneak off?"_ Legolas said quietly.

"_What are you doing here, Aranel will kill you if even sees you talking to me." _Idrial replied.

"_I do not care what he says, that and you have told me several times that he is not very good with a sword, I also got Aragorn to give him a sleeping draught." _Legolas whispered. Idrial laughed slightly.

"_Where are you going?" _Legolas asked.

"_I have to return home, I will not risk Lothlorien falling when I could be there." _Idrial answered.

"_Lothlorien is strong, your grandmother and the warriors there protect it. It will not fall."_ Legolas said reassuringly.

"_I have a duty to them, whether I like it or not once my grandparents leave I will have to rule, and I do not want them to think that I will abandon them." _Idrial replied. She reached one hand onto the horse's reins but Legolas put his hand on top of hers.

"_Rial do not leave, we need you here, I need you here." _Legolas said softly.

"_I have to, the people of Lothlorien need to know that I will be there to fight for them, that I will fight to my last breath to defend them." _Idrial replied.

"_They know that already rial please do not leave." Legolas pleaded._

"_Give me one reason why I should stay." Idrial replied._

"_Because you give me hope rial, when you are fighting beside me I know that we will survive." _Legolas whispered.

Idrial sighed and started unsaddling her horse.

"_I will stay." _Idrial said softly, Legolas smiled and helped her with the horse.

"_Hanon-lle."_ Legolas whispered before kissing her cheek.

"_How strong was that healing draught that Aragorn gave to my brother?"_ Idrial asked.

"_He will not be waking up until at least dawn_." Legolas answered. Idrial smiled and Legolas leaned over slightly to kiss her.

Aragorn, Elladan and Elrohir sat in the hall along with Elegost and Berethor. Berethor sat quietly, occasionally shuffling his feet.

"You worry about Minas Tirith." Elladan stated.

"I worry about my family, my mother, father and brother live there, and I fear that Denethor will not light the beacons because of his own selfish pride." Berethor replied while sighing.

"Gandalf will make sure those beacons are lit, you need not worry." Elrohir reassured him.

**Elvish translation: **

**Hanon-lle – Thank you**

**A/N: It is shorter than planned, but school is really annoying and I have a massive headache and I wanted to post this so yeah.**

**Thank you to Violet Eagle for the whole idea of Aranel walking outside and seeing Legolas and Idrial, that part was Violet Eagle's idea so a huge thanks to her.**

**Thank you to Narsilia Lyanna Elendil for coming up with Aranel's threat, I had no idea what to write for that bit so credit goes to her for that.**

**Please review no flames though.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Author's note: This is a lot later than I planned, sorry but school is so busy, I am getting a lot of homework, as soon as I get home I have to do my homework then after that I am too tired to write, from now on I will only update on Sundays but if I don't get much homework one week I might update again and in October half term I should update everyday. I am starting physiotherapy on the 23****rd**** by the way so I will be busy with that as well.**

**Elvish will be in italics**

**Disclaimer: I still own nothing.**

**Chapter 15:**

The days seemed to drag on, the wait for the beacons seemed to last forever, especially for Aragorn and Berethor.

Eaoden and Morwen were walking together, Morwen feared for Gondor as well.

"You seem nervous." Eaoden stated.

"I fear for Minas Tirith and all of Gondor, it would break my heart to see them destroyed." Morwen said quietly.

"Why?" Eaoden asked.

"I am from Gondor, I was forced into an arranged marriage however the man I was betrothed to fled from battle and was banished, My family and I were also banished yet I am glad for I did not like the arranged marriage if I marry I want to marry for love not politics." Morwen replied, Eaoden smiled at her, her choice of words annoyed him slightly but he guessed it was now or never.

"If you wish to marry for love then will you marry me?" Eaoden said nervously as he pulled out a ring. Morwen was speechless, she had always admired him but never thought that he would care for her.

"Yes." She managed to say, tears of happiness were in the corners of her eyes as Eaoden put the ring on her finger.

Aragorn and Berethor sat looking for the beacons, Berethor would jump at the slightest glint of light in the distance.

"Do you have family in Minas Tirith?" Aragorn asked.

"My brother and my sister, they are all I have, I should be there with my sister now, she has already lost her betrothed to the ring." Berethor answered, Aragorn looked confused.

"My sister was supposed to marry Boromir, when we got to Helm's Deep Idrial told me that he died though I do not know how she could possibly know that." Berethor explained.

"Galadriel told her, but warned her only to tell you once there was no way for you to leave to Minas Tirith." Aragorn replied.

"Why would Galadriel tell her that?" Berethor asked.

"You do not know? Galadriel is Idrial's grandmother." Aragorn answered.

"Why couldn't they tell me?" Berethor asked.

"Ask her for yourself, I do not know." Aragorn replied.

So that is what he went to do.

Gimli and Hadhod were drinking as much ale as they could before the beacons were lit, much to the amusement of Elegost and Legolas, who were watching the dwarves, the amount of mugs they had gotten though could be stacked up to double their height, which was definitely entertaining.

Idrial sat in a small room drawing on a piece of parchment when /Berethor walked in.

"I'm tired of waiting for answers, why were you travelling with me? Why couldn't you tell me about Boromir's death and why have I not been told anything?" Berethor demanded.

"You were enslaved by Saruman, he sent you to find Boromir, he sent you to find the ring his hold over you is broken, had you been told anything sooner t would have doomed us all, if I had told you of Boromir's death you would have gone back to Gondor and Denethor would have had you killed for returning because of your banishment." Idrial explained.

"So all of that time…" Berethor started.

"I was protecting you, trying to help Middle Earth." Idrial finished.

"But how did you find me?" Berethor asked.

"Lady Galadriel sent me." Idrial answered before walking off.

The next day Aragorn sat watching the mountains and he saw a flame.

"The beacons are lit, the beacons are lit." He yelled as he ran towards the golden hall.

"The beacons are lit Gondor calls for aid!" He said breathlessly as he entered the hall.

"And Rohan will answer." Theoden declared.

**A/N: Sorry if it's short, I have a headache so can't write anymore today and feel guilty about not updating sooner.**

**Please Review no flames though.**

**I am thinking of killing Idrial towards the end of the fic, what do you think, let me know in a review if you think ~I should kill her or not because I am not sure and want you guys to decide.**

**Last time I looked I had 829 views for this story so if it gets to 58 reviews by tomorrow afternoon (Great Britain time.) I will update tomorrow as well as Sunday.**

**Also I keep forgetting to put this, the reason that they aren't going to Osgiliath like you do in the game is that I am pretty sure Osgiliath and Helm's Deep were the same day or like a day after each other so unless they can suddenly teleport I don't think they could get to Osgiliath.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Author's note: Again sorry f"or the delay, I have too much homework but I will update every Sunday from now on and should be updating Light In the Darkness within the next two weeks. Also, I didn't get 58 reviews but seriously people if you read a fic, review it because it lets the author know what different people think and can help to improve their writing, and I am not just saying this for my fics, I'm saying it for every fic and every author out there, because when people don't review you don't know what different people think and you worry that people don't like it. Okay rant over and I have made my decision about killing Idrial later in the fic, you will have to wait and see.**

**Elvish will be in italics**

**Disclaimer: I still own nothing.**

**Chapter 16:**

The next few hours were a whirlwind as everyone had to prepare to leave as quickly as possible. The warrior's families would ride with them and journey with them until they left Dunharrow.

They set off but most rode in silence, there were very few people who were not afraid. Berethor's group and the remainder of the fellowship were riding together, not far behind Theoden and his guard, Aranel, Elladan and Elrohir also rode with them but still no one dared to speak. It was Hadhod who finally broke the silence.

"Well ranger I doubt that you will be going back to that wife of yours." Hadhod said grimly.

"Hadhod!" Idrial snapped, the last thing they needed was for everyone to think they were going to die.

"No my friend you are right, I doubt she remains in these lands." Elegost replied.

"Mellon-nin do not say that, she was in Rivendell when I was there for the council and she will not leave you." Idrial reassured him.

"_I told her to leave, /I told her that there was nothing between us anymore that she should just go." Elegost replied._

"_She would not believe you, she knows you too well, when this is all over go back to Rivendell, go back to her."_ Idrial said softly.

"_If we even survive." _Elegost said grimly.

"_He's right Rial, there is not much chance of us surviving." _Legolas cut in.

"_There is always hope, and besides how many times have me, you and Aragorn almost died but still survived all those hunting trips." _Idrial replied.

"_There was a lot less orcs then." Legolas muttered._

"_And only three of us, so how is this different? When Rohan and Gondor are fighting as well." _ Idrial said reassuringly.

"_You think we can win this battle?" _Legolas questioned.

"_Yes, it would help if everyone forget their fears though." _Idrial replied.

"_Fear is not easily forgotten I know that you still fear facing your grief." _Legolas said quietly.

"_I cannot become weak, I have to be the strong one, I am the eldest, I have a duty to protect Aranel." _Idrial replied.

"_He can defend himself, you know that. Rial you can't ignore it forever." _Legolas said softly.

"I do not need to ignore it much longer." Idrial muttered under her breath, so quietly that nobody could hear it.

They stopped about halfway through the ride so they could stretch their legs. Aragorn was speaking with Theoden and Aranel, Elladan and Elrohir had mentioned something or other about needing to lift everyone's spirits.

"How is it that even in the midst of a war they still prank people?" Legolas asked.

"You have it easy, you aren't related to them." Idrial joked.

"You used to be like them though." Legolas replied.

"Idrial, pulling pranks are you serious?" Berethor, Eaoden, Hadhod and Morwen said, quite shocked.

"Yes she did used to pull pranks, I distinctly remember the hair dye incident." Legolas replied.

"That didn't completely work, it was supposed to be revenge on Elladan and Elrohir for ruining my sword." Idrial defended herself.

"Yes but instead the prank hit me and Aragorn." Legolas complained.

"Well you shouldn't have been there." Idrial joked.

"And you two are courting." Elegost joked which sparked a reaction from the others.

"The princeling courting someone, I never thought I would see that." Gimli teased. Idrial couldn't help but laugh along with the others.

"Thank you so much." Legolas said sarcastically. Idrial leaned across and kissed his cheek.

"Sorry but it is all in jest, they do not mean it literally." Idrial said softly.

"Well…" Gimli joked.

"Ignore them, amin mela lle." Idrial said softly.

"Amin mela lle." Legolas whispered.

"I think we should leave these two, unfortunately I understand what they just said to each other." Elegost joked, they got up to leave the two elves alone.

Berethor and Elegost were chatting just before they set off again.

"What they were saying about your wife earlier, what do they mean?" Berethor asked.

"I married a half-elf, twenty years ago the camp that I was captain of was attacked, I was the only survivor, my brother and father were amongst those slain, I was fortunate though, my wife and son were in Rivendell visiting their relatives, when I went to tell my wife I told her that it was best if she stayed away from me, I couldn't see her or our son hurt. I doubt that my son would even recognise me if he saw me, he was barely a year old when it happened." Elegost explained.

"I feel lucky now, it seems that all of you have suffered so much I cannot help but feel sympathetic." Berethor replied.

"The pain makes you stronger at least that's what me, Hadhod and Idrial tell ourselves." Elegost said quietly.

"What did they lose?" Berethor asked.

"Hadhod's sons were killed in Moria, and Idrial's parents were killed in front of her and Aranel in Eregion, and her elder brother sailed to Valinor a long time ago." Elegost answered.

"How can they cope with that?" Berethor asked.

"I do not know but Hadhod is not as he once was, I Am not sure about Idrial, her parents were killed when she was ten so obviously I didn't know what she was like before, the only person who would know is Aranel." Elegost replied. They both mounted their horses and were just about to leave.

"I will have to ask both of them what happened." Berethor said.

"Good luck with that, neither of them like to talk about what happened." Elegost replied.

Several hours later they arrived at the camp, Morwen was walking with Eaoden while everyone else prepared.

"Do you think we will survive?" Morwen asked quietly.

"I want us to survive, I hope we will." Eaoden answered.

"I fear that we will get hurt." Morwen said quietly.

"Let us think not of the future, but of now and each moment here." Eaoden said softly as he leaned over and kissed Morwen.

A cloaked rider entered the camp and went straight to Theoden's tent, then a messenger was sent to find Aragorn. Aragorn walked into the tent.

"I take my leave." Theoden said as he walked out of the tent.

The cloaked figure stood up and removed his hood.

"My lord Elrond." Aragorn said quietly whilst bowing.

"I come on behalf of one whom I love." Elrond replied, Aragorn instantly knew who he was speaking about and looked at him rather concerned.

"Arwen is dying, she will not survive the evil that spreads from Mordor, the light of the evenstar is fading as Sauron's power grows her strength wanes, Arwen's life is now tied to the fate of the ring." Elrond continued.

"What of your sons? What of Aranel and Idrial are their fates too tied to the ring?" Aragorn asked concerned.

"As far as I am aware my sons are not tied to the ring, however my niece and nephew are, should Sauron discover that they are still alive too soon it will doom them, your forefathers were able to keep them a secret, I am trusting you to do the same." Elrond replied.

"Do they know?" Aragorn asked.

"Idrial does but I had to warn her of that the first she went hunting with you and Legolas however Aranel is not aware of this for the grief still affects him, protect them in their hour of need as they did for you." Elrond answered.

"The shadow is upon us Aragorn, the end has come." Elrond continued.

"It will not be our end but his." Aragorn cut in.

"You ride to war but not to victory. Sauron's armies march on Minas Tirith this you know but in secret he sends another force which will attack from the river, a fleet of corsairs ships sails from the south they will be in the city in two days. You are outnumbered Aragorn, you need more men." Elrond replied.

"There are no more men." Aragorn stated.

"There are those who dwell in the mountain." Elrond corrected. Aragorn was slightly scared by this.

"Murderers, traitors you would call upon them to fight? They believe in nothing, they answer to no one." Aragorn said harshly.

"They will answer to the King of Gondor." Elrond replied and he took a sword from beneath his cloak.

"Anduril flame of the west forged from the shards of Narsil." Elrond declared, walking forwards and offering Aragorn the sword. Aragorn took the sword.

"Sauron will not have forgotten the sword of Elendil." Aragorn said quietly and took the sword from it's sheath.

"The blade that was broken shall return to Minas Tirith." He continued.

"The man who can wield the power of this sword can summon to him an army more deadly than any that walks this earth put aside the ranger, become who you were born to be ." Elrond replied.

"Onen I-Estel Edain." Elrond continued.

"U-Chebin Estel anim." Aragorn replied before putting his sword away.

"Take caution and please keep my nephew safe." Elrond said quietly.

"What of Idrial?" Aragorn asked.

"She will not survive this war, she knows this, by saving Berethor in Eregion she knows that she is destined to die, but sacrifices herself to defeat Sauron. You must not repeat this to anyone." Elrond answered.

A few hours later Aragorn was just about to leave.

"Where do you think you're going?" Gimli asked.

"You cannot accompany me, Gimli." Aragorn replied, just then Legolas walked over with his horse.

"Have you learned nothing of the stubbornness of dwarves?" Legolas asked. Then Idrial walked over.

"Let them go with you Aragorn." Idrial said quietly.

"And what of you?" Aragorn asked.

"My place is in battle with the orcs." Idrial replied.

"_Be careful, do not make a foolish mistake._**" **Aragorn said quietly.

"_I will show no mercy. I do not fear death, I do not fear them, I fear no one."_ Idrial said stubbornly.

Aragorn watched as Legolas and Idrial said their farewells, the elleth had been there from the start, she never gave up hope, it was hard to imagine her not being there, he hoped that somehow Elrond was wrong.

**Elvish Translations:**

**Amin mela lle – I love you**

**Elleth- female elf**

**Onen I-Estel Edain – I gave hope to the Dunedain**

**U-Chebin Estel anim – I kept none for myself**

**A/N: Over 1000 words written on a school night and I have a biology test tomorrow, how about a review? And I did edit Elrond and Aragorn's conversation but it had to be done. Speaking of Elrond is like really pessimistic in this, way to give everyone hope Elrond.**

**Please review. **


	17. The Battle Of Pelennor Fields

**Author's note: Another chapter! I can't update tomorrow so I am updating today instead, also at the end of each chapter I will be putting lyrics to songs that have inspired me while I have been writing this fic. **

**Elvish will be in italics**

**Disclaimer: I still own nothing.**

**Chapter 17:**

The three hunters had left the camp a few hours before everyone else left. They rode quickly hoping to reach Minas Tirith before it was too late everyone was silent, they were focusing on the battle ahead.

When they arrived Minas Tirith was already under siege, and wouldn't hold out much longer, most of the lower levels were in flames. I the distance a figure that was on fire jumped from the top of the citadel and landed amongst the army of orcs

The orcs turned at the sound of the rohirrim horns, Aranel always kept horn of Lothlorien with him and blew into it along the rohirric hornblowers, Elladan, Elrohir and Idrial all had to hold back their laughter at this. The rohirric army seemed to stretch across all the eastern side of Pelennor. Theoden rode out in front of his men along with the commanders. Eowyn stared out into the enemy lines, there were so many! She instinctively wrapped her arm around Merry protectively.

"Courage Merry, courage for our friends." Eowyn whispered nervously, Idrial was riding beside them and could sense they were nervous.

"Do not fear them, we shall win this battle." Idrial said quietly, even though she knew it could be the last time she would walk upon this earth.

"Eomer take your Eored down the left flank! Gamling follow the king's banner down the centre! Grimbold take your company right after you pass the wall!" Theoden ordered. Then he turned to face his army.

"Forth and fear no darkness. Arise, arise riders of Theoden! Spears shall be shaken, shields shall be splintered, a sword day, a red day. There the sun rises." Theoden yelled. The front line of rohirrim pointed their spears outwards and the orcs stood ready to defend.

"Whatever happens stay with me, I will look after you." Eowyn whispered to Merry.

"_Show no mercy, hope for survival."_ Idrial said quietly to Aranel.

"_Fight for hope, fight for those we have lost."_ Aranel replied, glancing at his twin. Theoden rode along the line with his sword hitting the spears.

"Ride now! Ride now! Ride, ride for ruin and the worlds ending! Death1" Theoden yelled.

"Death!" The army repeated.

"Death!" Theoden yelled again.

"Death!" The army shouted.

"Death!" Theoden yelled once again.

"Death!" The army replied.

"Forth Eorlingas!" Theoden shouted. The hornblowers blew the horns and the army charged forwards. The orcs backed up slightly in fear as the rohirrim charged forwards.

They fought valiantly and viciously, slicing hundreds of orcs to pieces. Many riders were unhorsed but continued fighting fiercely, much to the dismay of the orcs.

Idrial was fighting near Elegost, Hadhod and Morwen when she noticed an orc archer about to shoot Morwen. She grabbed a shield from the ground and ran in front of the orcs while holding up the shield. The arrow went into the shield then Elegost shot the archer down. Idrial dropped the shield and went to find some more orcs to kill. Morwen didn't notice as she was busy hacking away at several other orcs. Berethor and Eaoden soon found their way over to the others and the group back into a circle as the orcs began to surround them.

The group fought so in sync with one another that you would think they had been fighting together for years, not a few months which did not involve Morwen and Eaoden who had joined them less than three weeks ago. Gradually the orcs surrounding them were killed off. Once they had defeated the orcs the group split in two, Elegost, Hadhod and Idrial went one way while Berethor, Eaoden and Morwen went the other, killing plenty of orcs as they went.

Eomer was riding towards the approaching Mumakil he threw a spear at one which killed it, and also took out two other mumaks with it. That had lessened the threat of being trampled.

Berethor and the others had met up once again and were dangerously close to a mumak. Elegost grabbed his bow and shot the mumak, Hadhod and Berethor attacked it's legs, Idrial threw a couple of her throwing knives, Eaoden threw his spear and Morwen threw one of her axes at the mumak which killed it. Unfortunately for them at least thirty orcs were about to attack them, the group had barely enough time to retrieve any of their weapons that had killed the mumak or in Elegost's case drop his bow and draw his sword.

Once again the group were fighting in perfect unison, making them formidable foes to the orcs that were easily defeated. Everyone in the group went their separate ways across the battlefield and the seemingly hopeless battle suddenly seemed a lot less hopeless.

Aranel, Elladan and Elrohir were fighting a large group of orcs when Idrial joined them, the two pairs of twins fighting together was a sight to behold, they could predict the other's next movement making them balance each other out perfectly.

Over by the sea the black ships of the corsairs arrived.

"You're late!" One of the orcs yelled. To their surprise Aragorn jumped of the ship closely followed by Legolas and Gimli. After them the army of the dead appeared, wiping out the orcs by the sea quickly.

The army of the dead swept across the battlefield taking hundreds if not thousands of orcs with them.

A mumak was approaching Legolas and Gimli however Legolas ran forwards, grabbed a tusk, swung on to the mumak's front leg, then to the back leg and climbed up. He shot the haradrim in the travelling basket before cutting the orcs sending them into the army of the dead below. Legolas then killed the master who was controlling the mumak before he shot the mumak in the head and slid down it's trunk.

"That still only counts as one!" Gimli yelled.

"Show off." Idrial muttered. Gimli had gone to find some orcs to kill however Idrial had also spotted them, using her elven speed she ran forwards, jumped and kicked two orcs in the head before landing and quickly removing their heads.

"Ruddy elves!" Gimli grumbled, Idrial smiled and Legolas had to laugh as the dwarf searched frantically for more orcs to kill. Idrial had spotted some more orcs and quickly ran to kill them.

The battle was over when the army of the dead entered Minas Tirith and began cleansing it of foes.

They had survived. They had won.

"Well Hadhod I do believe that we survived." Elegost joked.

"Aye that we did, but the war is not over yet." Hadhod replied.

"True, but come let us celebrate the victory with some ale." Elegost said, waiting for the dwarf to jump at the chance for ale.

"Some ale does sound good, but first I will find Gimli, he wouldn't want to miss out." Hadhod replied.

Later that evening almost everyone was celebrating, Eaoden and Morwen were resting having both said that they were exhausted.

Idrial was stood by one of the semi broken outer walls with a mug of ale, the tavern had become to noisy for her. Aragorn walked outside, he could tell something was wrong with his friend.

"Idrial are you alright mellon-nin?" Aragorn asked.

"I am fine. For now at least." Idrial said sadly.

"I know what you speak of Idrial. You may have fooled the others but I know you too well." Aragorn replied.

"I am going to die.. I knew that as soon as I told my grandparents I would do as Galadriel asked my to be guardian over Berethor. But now…" Her voice trailed off at the end.

"You regret it." Aragorn finished for her.

"No I don't regret it, I never will I just wish that I did not hve to die because of it." Idrial said quietly.

"You make the greatest sacrifice there is. But you chose to for your parents did you not?" Aragorn replied.

"I miss them, there isn't one day when I don't wonder what my life would be like if they were still alive. I chose to make the sacrifice because I just did not think…" Idrial said quietly.

"Did not think that Legolas would return your feelings, or how much that Aranel needs you." Aragorn finished for her.

"Both." Idrial replied

She turned to leave when Aragorn noticed a large blood stain on her cloak.

"Idrial, why didn't you tell anyone?" Aragorn asked sternly.

"There were too many wounded, I did not wish to be a burden." Idrial replied.

**Elvish translation:**

**Mellon – nin – My friend.**

**A/N: This is shorter than I planned but I am trying to stretch this fic to 20 chapters and I was running out of ideas sorry!**

**Lost the battle**

**But win the war**

**I'm bringing m sinking sip back to the shore**

**Starting over**

**Head back in**

**There's a time and a place to die and this ain't it**

**Now – Paramore**

**Open your eyes like I opened mine**

**Its only the real world: A life you wll never know**

**Shifting your weight to throw off the pain**

**Well you can ignore it**

**But only for so long**

**Careful – Paramore**

**Please review.**


	18. Chapter 18

**Author's note: Yay! I have over 1000 views! *Hugs everyone* Thanks to everyone who has read this story and please review and a special thanks to all my reviewers, followers and people who favourited this story! And turns out I am not busy today, I had a last minute change in plans so here is another chapter, oh and I start physio tomorrow and I might update it depends if I am going to school after the physio cause I will be in a lot of pain.**

**Elvish will be in italics**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing (Surely you know this by now)**

**Chapter 18:**

Aranel had been called to the houses of healing, he dreaded the reason why, there was no doubt in his mind that Idrial had gone and got herself wounded.

When he arrived Idrial was arguing with one of the healers.

"I am fine, I do not need to be kept here!" Idrial said stubbornly.

"You need to stay here for the night, your wound could have easily killed you!" The healer argued.

"But I am an elf! I can survive this, and besides my over-protective brother is here so he won't let me get hurt!" Idrial protested. Her words seemed to sting. Aranel wondered is she was right. 'Am I really being over-protective?' He thought to himself.

"Aranel can you tell this healer that I don't need to stay here?" Idrial said, her frustration was evident in her voice. Aranel lst his trail of thought.

"Let her go, she will be fine." Aranel said calmly.

"Very well." The healer replied.

Idrial was sent to a guest room to rest instead of returning to the tavern with her brother. Aranel had entered the tavern and was looking for Legolas, he found the Mirkwood prince wit Gimli.

"Can I speak with you outside?" Aranel asked. Legolas nodded and followed him.

"I need to apologise for what I said, I shouldn't have been so protective over my sister but really she is all I have left and I feared that you would hurt her, but I realise now that you wouldn't and even if you tried I am certain she would easily defend herself." Aranel said quietly.

"I understand, after all she is your twin and you two depend on each other. I would never hurt her though, I care about her too much and she probably would easily defend herself, you're right." Legolas replied.

"For years it was always just me and Idrial, we looked out for each other I never stopped being protective over her even though she has you, Aragorn, Dan, Ro, lots of people looking out for her." Aranel explained.

"She is a lot stronger than you give her credit for." Legolas muttered.

"She has been sent to her guest room up in the palace, she was wounded in the fighting but refused to stay in the houses of healing." Aranel stated.

"Typical Rial." Legolas joked before going to see her.

Gimli had learned has lesson about challenging elves to drinking games, this time he was challenging Elladan and Elrohir since they were only half elven, Gimli assumed they did o have as high an alcohol tolerance. He was wrong.

Their small celebration ended at midnight when everyone headed off, or in Gimli's case dragged off, to bed.

Everyone met in the throne room in the morning, to discuss their course of action.

"Frodo has passed beyond my sight." Gandalf stated.

"If Sauron had the ring we would know of it." Aragorn muttered.

"Sauron has suffered a great defeat but behind the walls of Mordor our enemy is regrouping." Gandalf said sadly.

"Let the beast stew in his own muck! Why should we care?" Gimli exclaimed.

"Because ten thousand orcs now stand between Frodo and Mount Doom." Aragorn replied, making Gimli quickly become quiet.

"I've doomed him." Gandalf said sadly.

"Not if we give him time and safe passage across the plains of Gorgoroth." Aragorn replied, the idea had just hit him.

"How do you suppose we do that?" Aranel asked.

"We gather our full strength and march upon the black gate." Aragorn answered.

"A diversion." Legolas muttered.

"Do you agree?" Aragorn asked. There were a few murmurs and uncertain shuffles of feet when Idrial stepped forward.

"I swore an oath to your father that I would fight alongside you, that I would defend you until my last breath, I stick by that oath." Idrial replied. One by one they stepped forward and all agreed to the plan.

Later that evening Legolas walked with Idrial through the citadel.

"Rial saes do not go to battle tomorrow, you are already wounded, I do not want to see you hurt even more." Legolas said desperately, he was almost pleading.

"I am going to battle Legolas, you can't stop me, this is what I have waited most of my life for, the chance to avenge my parents deaths once and for all." Idrial said softly.

"I cannot convince you can I?" Legolas replied.

"No, I have to do this." Idrial said quietly.

"Just be careful." Legolas whispered.

"I will." Idrial replied quietly Legolas kissed her gently, worried this could be the last night he would spend with her.

"I forgot to tell you yesterday, Aranel apologised he does not mind us courting now." Legolas said softly.

"Finally." Idrial muttered.

Morwen sat with Eaoden, she was staring at the ring on her finger, what if they didn't survive? She didn't want to think about that she wanted to enjoy the night before the battle, she leaned back against him and he kissed the top of her head.

"We will survive this." Eaoden whispered.

Berethor was staying with his siblings, he and his brother were trying to console their sister, but neither of them had lost a lover before, they didn't know what she was going through and tomorrow they would leave, go to battle and probably not make it back alive.

**Elvish translation:**

**Saes – please**

**A/N: Shorter than I planned, this story will go to 20 chapters though, the last two chapters might be slightly late since I will make both chapters at least 2000 words. And finally Aranel apologised, he was getting so annoying even I hated him.**

**Lock the door**

**Cause I'd like to capture this voice**

**It came to me tonight**

**So everyone will have a choice**

**And under red lights**

**I'll show myself it wasn't forged**

**We're at war**

**We live like this**

**We are broken - Paramore**


	19. The Battle Of The Black Gate

**Author's note: I have been to physio today, my actual knee injury has almost recovered but because it caused a lot of pain the muscles in my leg have switched off so I have to do some exercises to make the muscles wake up again and then I have to strengthen the so I should be back at cricket in about a month.**

**Elvish will be in italics**

**Disclaimer: I still own nothing.**

**Hey did anyone know that there is a song called "Our lawyers made us change the name of this song so we wouldn't get sued." How awesome is that for a song title!**

**Chapter 19:**

They left early the next morning, Berethor's sister had wished them luck at the gates. Faramir and Eowyn remained in the houses of healing since they were both still wounded. Many of the women and children had seen them off and given them flowers as they did when the soldiers went to reclaim Osgiliath. Idrial and Morwen felt slightly uncomfortable, being the only women in the entire army of about seven thousand.

There was a tense silence as they rode to what most people thought would be their doom. Everything they had been through since the last alliance had led up to this, all the deaths, all the battles, all their fears and doubts every second of their lives had

"battle and the fates of it's inhabitants.

As it got close to dusk they stopped to camp for the night, they would be no good in battle without sleep. Only the elves and the dwarves could afford to stay awake so they kept watch. Idrial knew this would be her last night in Middle Earth, tomorrow she would join her parents in Mandos. It seemed less frightening now but now it hurt her more because now she had everything to lose.

"Eru give me strength." She pleaded.

"Rial are you okay?" Legolas asked as he came and sat beside her.

"All m life I never feared battle, now I am more scared than I have ever been about anything." Idrial replied.

"Don't be ashamed of that, we are attacking the black gate tomorrow, I am sure that everyone is afraid." Legolas said softly.

"What about you?" Idrial asked.

"I am afraid but you and Aragorn are fighting as well so it's just like old times." Legolas replied.

"That seems so long ago now." Idrial whispered.

"If we survive tomorrow we should go on a hunting trip once for all times sake." Legolas said quietly.

"Legolas…" Idrial began.

"Idrial it's your watch" Elladan interrupted. Idrial got up and took up watch where Elladan had been sitting.

Dawn came too soon and they set off towards Mordor again they arrived soon after.

The remainder of the fellowship, Eomer, Elladan, Elrohir, Aranel and Berethor's group rode towards the gate.

"Let the lord of the black land come forth! Let justice be done upon him!" Aragorn yelled. They waited anxiously until the gates creaked open and a rider dressed all in black came out.

"My master Sauron the great bids thee welcome." The mouth of Sauron said sharply, Idrial coughed at this trying to hold back a laugh at Sauron being called great and Aragorn was unimpressed and just raised an eyebrow at the messenger.

"Is there anybody who has authority to treat with me?" The mouth of Sauron taunted them.

"We do not come to treat with Sauron, faithless and cursed. Tell your master this; the armies of Mordor must disband, he is to depart these lands never to return." Gandalf said defiantly.

"Old greybeard I have a token I was bidden to show thee." The mouth of Sauron replied before holding up Frodo's mithril shirt. Only those who were in the fellowship knew what it meant and all had pained expressions on their faces.

"Frodo." Pippin whispered. The mouth then threw the mithril shirt to Gandalf.

"Frodo." Pippin repeated.

"Silence." Gandalf said sternly.

"No." Pippin said desperately.

"Silence." Gandalf repeated.

"The Halfling was dear to thee I see." The mouth of Sauron said evilly.

"Whatever you did I will make you regret it!" Idrial snapped.

"Know that he suffered greatly at the hands of his host." The mouth of Sauron continued, completely ignoring Idrial.

"Who would have thought one so small could endure so much pain and he did Gandalf he did." The mouth hissed. Gandalf passed the mithril shirt to Pippin as he was close to tears.

Aragorn had finally had enough and rode forwards.

"And who is this? Isildur's heir, it takes more to make a king than a broken elvish blade." The mouth taunted, Aragorn continued to ride forwards with a smile on his face as his horse went next to the mouth an he drew his sword and removed the Mouth of Sauron's head with a loud yell.

"I guess that concludes negotiations." Gimli muttered.

"This is my type of politics." Idrial joked. Aragorn turned to face them.

"I do not believe it, I will not." Aragorn said fiercely.

The gates creaked open revealing the orc army.

"Fall back, fall back." Aragorn called. They rode back towards their army as the orcs approached

"Hold your ground! Hold your ground!" Aragorn yelled as he got back to the army.

"Sons of Gondor, of Rohan, my brothers! I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. The day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship but it is not this day. An hour of wolves and shattered shields when the age of men comes crashing down but it is not this day, this day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good earth I bid you stand en of te west!" Aragorn yelled. And drew his sword, the entire army also drew their weapons along with his friends that sat on their horses facing them. They then quickly dismounted and stood tall as the orcs continued to approach. Aragorn stepped forward before turning to face his army again.

"For Frodo." He whispered before running towards the enemy closely followed by the rest of the army.

They charged into the enemy and began the onslaught. The army of men fought fiercely, all of them clinging to this one ray of hope. Their numbers were decreasing faster than they would have liked but they didn't care, all that mattered was buying Frodo some time.

Elladan and Elrohir were fighting incredibly aggressively but only because they knew that the other would be there for them so they could risk it. Berethor's group were fighting better than ever, each movement one of them made was perfectly balanced out by another as they fought together. Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli were also making quick work of the orcs, it was obvious why the three hunters were feared

As the battle progressed the groups split and they were lucky to be fighting alongside a familiar face. Idrial was fighting off about ten orcs when Legolas found his way over to her. After years of fighting together they both knew the other's tendencies too well so easily predicted the other's next movement, making much easier to kill the orcs.

"Rial, will you marry me?" Legolas called to her as he killed an orc.

"You're doing this now!" Idrial yelled back as she stabbed another orc.

"Why not now?" Legolas asked as he dodged an orc blade.

"We are in the middle of the biggest battle to take place in over fifty years, is this really the best time!" Idrial exclaimed as she spun round and killed an orc.

""Probably not, but you still haven't answered!" Legolas called to her as he threw a knife into an orc that was about to attack her.

"Hanon-lle and yes I'll marry you." Idrial replied breathlessly.

Hadhod, Elegost and Gimli were fighting together, the dwarves stopped orcs attacking Elegost while he shot down the ones further off, it was a great partnership and the orcs were being killed quickly.

When the battle seemed to be going in their favour the Nazgul descended upon them from the sky. The shrill cries seemed to echo through Mordor and pierced through the ears of the army.

No one gave up hope and they continued to fight mercilessly, much to Sauron's dismay.

Not long after the trolls were sent out, making morale drop. The army's hope was starting to fade but they continued to fight, Frodo had to be near Mount Doom he just had to be.

For each orc killed another appeared and the army of men was beginning to become weary

A loud shriek pierced the air as the eye spun round towards Mount Doom, there was a ray of hope for the army of men as they watched the Nazgul leave the battlefield. They wanted to breath a sigh of relief but didn't have time as they continued to fight. Then the eagles came and began picking up orcs and tossing them into the mountains. Aragorn was fighting a troll and just blocked it's attack when he was knocked to the ground. He stabbed it's leg and it stepped away before it was about to put it's foot down and crush Aragorn.

"Aragorn!" Legolas, Elegost and Idrial yelled as they tried to get to him.

The troll was about to slam it's foot down when there was a loud cry and Mount Doom exploded on itself. The eye of Sauron searched frantically as the tower of Barad-dur began to fall down. The eye of Sauron imploded as it hit te ground and a shockwave went trough Mordor as the orc and trolls fled.

They ad prevailed, Sauron no more and Middle Earth could finally be at peace.

Idrial lowered her sword. "I should be dead now." She thought to herself, part of her felt like it was missing though she couldn't explain it. She went to find Aranel.

She found his lifeless body laying near the remnants of the Black Gate.

"Aranel!" She cried, there was a clatter of metal as her sword fell to the ground and she dropped to her knees.

"Aranel." She whispered. She searched for his pulse, there wasn't one. He was dead.

"Rial we won!" Legolas said happily as he walked over to her.

"Really because it doesn't feel like it. Aranel is dead." She replied, her voice was choked up.

"Rial…" Legolas began.

"Don't even say that you understand because you don't! Nobody does!" Idrial snapped before walking away.

"Is she okay?" Aragorn asked as he walked over.

"Aranel died, her grief is mixed with anger." Legolas stated.

"At whom?" Aragorn asked.

"Herself." Legolas answered.

"We should go back to the city before they start to wonder what fate has befallen us." Aragorn replied.

**Elvish translation:**

**Hanon-lle – Thank you.**

**A/N: Okay so it isn't 2000 words but that is hard to write for a battle like the black gate. And I didn't kill Idrial, I killed Aranel instead, so yay she is still alive and I haven't messed up my plot for the sequel (I relly shouldn't talk about that though or I might give something away oops.) **

**Please review.**

**The song Monster by Paramore and the song Sunday Bloody Sunday they did a cover of inspired me when I was writing this but I couldn't find the lyrics.**

**Please review!**


	20. Chapter 20

**Author's note: *sniffles* Here it is the last chapter, I should be posting the sequel at some point this week and it will be called the fourth age (such an inventive title LOL) so keep a look out for that. Oh and my laptop should hopefully get fixed this weekend so I can see the screen clearly again.**

**Elvish will be in italics**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

**Chapter 20:**

Once they had returned to Minas Tirith Frodo had been rushed to the houses of healing where he fell unconscious. Aragorn was delaying his coronation until the ring-bearer awoke since without Frodo destroying the ring he would not be there.

The people seemed to be enjoying the era of peace that was upon them, it was bliss compared to what life was like for the last few thousand years. They still mourned those who had fallen protecting them ut found joy in their every day lives.

One person who let their grief overwhelm hem was Idrial, she wouldn't talk to anyone and spent the days hiding away from everyone. She had become a shell of her former self; the fire inside her was gone, there was no light in her eyes anymore. There were times when she seemed so lifeless the only way you could tell she was still alive was by the permanent tears in the corners of her eye.

She felt like part of her was missing. Aranel was the one person who completely understood her, she never had to say what she was thinking or how she felt because he always knew. They helped each other through their grief but now she had no one to help her through it. Her friends had to watch her sink into grief and despair, it pained Legolas the most to see her like this it was two days later when he finally had enough.

She was sat on a bench in one of the gardens, it was midnight when he found her.

"Rial we all know that you are suffering but is this really the answer? Aranel would not want to see you like this, please at least talk to your friends again, they are worried about you." Legolas said softly, he placed a cloak over Idrial's shoulders as he could tell that she was cold.

"The one person that I have known my entire life is gone. It should have been me that day. I don't deserve this." Idrial replied quietly.

"Rial you cannot change it, if the valar willed him to die there was nothing you could do about it." Legolas whispered, sitting beside her and wrapping an arm around her shaking shoulders.

"This time I am alone in my grief." Idrial said shakily before starting to cry.

"None of us may know what you are suffering through but you are not alone, you never will be." Legolas replied reassuringly before kissing the top of her head.

Frodo awoke four days after the war ended and Aragorn's coronation took place.

All of Gondor was at the ceremony at the top of the city along with many distant friends of Aragorn's. Gandalf placed the crown on the top of Aragorn's head and he began to sing. Petals fell from above, the entire ceremony was beautiful. Everyone applauded when the crown was placed on Aragorn's head. Aragorn then walked along, he saw Faramir and Eowyn who had been difficult to separate over the past few days, Gimli and Eomer along with Hadhod, Elegost, Morwen and Eaoden were there. Berethor, whose banishment was lifted was among those in the fountain guard.

He came to Legolas and Idrial next who after a few words stepped aside to reveal Arwen and Elrond behind them. Arwen walked forward and was immediately kissed by Aragorn, Elladan and Elrohir looked slightly annoyed and Elrond seemed both upset and slightly irritated.

Aragorn and Arwen then walked to the end where the hobbits stood the hobbits began to bow but Aragorn stopped them.

"No my friends you bow to no one." Aragorn said kindly. At that everyone bowed to the four hobbits.

Later that evening was a large celebration, Aragorn was dancing with Arwen. Elrond, Galadriel and Celeborn had not been pleased when they heard of Aranel's death although Galadriel and Celeborn were slightly distracted by anger at Idrial and Legolas

"What!" Celeborn shrieked. He and Galadriel were speaking outside and she had just dropped a bit of a bombshell.

"How do you know?" Celeborn asked.

"I could just tell, but it is one thing stopping her from fading." Galadriel answered.

"He should have at least asked us first!" Celeborn yelled.

"I agree but Idrial is close to fading, she could have been dead now as well as Aranel if it wasn't for the betrothal." Galadriel explained.

"Idrial will be fine, we are breaking the betrothal!" Celeborn snapped.

"She has lost everything Celeborn, her parents, her brothers it is not fair to take this from her as well." Galadriel said softly.

The next day there was a funeral for Aranel before his body was being taken and buried beside his parents' graves. During the funeral Idrial had placed a dunedain ring in his casket. He gave it to he when he was being switched camps as a promise that they wouldn't forget each other and that they would fight to get back to each other, it seemed right for her to place it there with him, it would only bring her more grief.

**A/N: I'm cutting it short. It has been great writing this and thank you to everyone who reviewed, favourited or followed. The sequel will be up soon, probably Sunday because I want a fresh start and hopefully my laptop will work properly. Thanks everyone I hope you enjoyed it and please check out my fic called interwove fates which is basically about their lives before and sort o explains their backstories better.**

**Please review.**


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